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1762 1917 



THE HISTORY 
OF THE 

TOWN OF ROYALSTON 
MASSACHUSETTS 

BY LILLEY B. CASWELL 



INCLUDING 



Royalston's Soldier Record 
Written and Compiled by 

HON. FRED W. CROSS 



Published by the Town of Royalston 
1917 



r 



J^^ldS 







^ 






FOREWORD OF THE AUTHOR 

The writer of this history of Royalston, in performing the 
work given him l>y your Town Committee, feels that in many 
respects this task might have been assigned to abler and more 
eloquent writers. 

Although not the town of his birth or residence, he has, 
ever since as a young man he came to this town as a teacher in 
its schools, had a love and admiration for this good, old town, 
for its grand and beautiful scenery, the people who have lived 
among these hills, and the history they have made. It has 
truly been a typical New England town, where men and wom- 
en have shown a zeal for religion, a sturdy patriotism, and a 
desire for educational privileges all through the history of the 
town. 

With the material which has been at our disposal, we have 
endeavored not to fill the work with too much statistical mat- 
ter, such as may easily be obtained in the annual town report, 
but rather have deemed it wise to describe more fully than 
manv town histories, the old families of the town that have 
made the history of Royalston one to be proud of. In this, 
we have not attempted to make what would be complete fam- 
ily genealogies, but have described those branches of the fam- 
ilies that have been more or less connected with the town, or 
have attained prominence or distinction in the various com- 
munities in which they have made their homes, scattered in all 
parts of the Union and in foreign lands. 

Another feature of this work, not common in town histor- 
ies, is the chapter on " Writers of Royalston Poetry." We be- 
lieved that such a vivid description of the events of the Civil 
War as contained in Dr. Frank W. Adams' Epic Poem on the 
Civil War in America was worthy of a place in this history, 
while the town that claims Nancy Priest, the gifted author of 
" Over the River," surely should give her a place in the annals 
of the town. The Red Letter Days of Royalston History will 
recall the celebration oi important events in the history of the 
town. The military history has been most carefully written, 
and ably presented by Hon. Fred W. Cross in the chapter en- 



IV HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

titled " Royalston's Soldier Record," and is a record that any 
town should be proud of. 

The hrst chapters of the work treat of the early settlers, 
incorporation of the town, town government, and of Col. Isaac 
Royall. who named the town. It seemed appropriate that 
vSouth Royalston. occupying^ one corner of the town, should 
have its families, industries, churches and organizations 
treated as a villag^e or community, instead of being: scattered 
through the pages of the history, and this has been so ar- 
ranged. 

The early records of the town do not contain many excit- 
ing and dramatic events, with no Indian traditions, and as 
Governor Bullock said, " A church without a schism in a cen- 
turv : a ministry that never knew how to quarrel and a people 
that have walked in the paths of unambitious duty." the life 
and activities of those early generations was so peaceful and 
regular that the history of those days is comparatively tame 
to that of many towns. 

We have been indebted to the Royalston ^lemorial. pub- 
lished in 1865, for much valuable information, which was 
gathered l)y your historical committee of half a century ago. 
at the time of the Centennial Anniversary, one member of 
which, the late Daniel Davis, assisted us in obtaining material 
for some of the family histories. We have also been reminded 
during the years of collecting material, of the fact that each 
passing year destroys or renders less available historic mat- 
ter of interest and value, while every year has removed from 
the scene of life's activities men and women whose memories 
\vere treasure houses of historic facts. 

In comj)iling the material contained in this work the writer 
has received valuable assistance from many sources. The 
town records and annual reports of the town have kindly been 
placed at our disposal by Town Clerk Dr. Frank W. Adams, 
and we have availed ourselves freely of the hies of the Athol 
and Worcester West Chronicle. Athol ']Vanscri])t. Barre 
Cazette and Fitchburg Sentinel. The archives and State 
Library at the State House in Bosttm have been consulted, 
while various town hist(M"ies and family genealogies contained 
in the libraries of the American Antiquarian Society at 
Worcester, Worcester Public Library and the Fitchburg and 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON V 

Athol piil)lic libraries have furnished us with much valuable 
material. Also members of many of the old Royalston families 
have gladly aided us in the preparation of the family histories 
which we have presented, 

\\> would like to have given a complete list of the indi- 
viduals who have aided us in our work, but do not feel at 
liberty to give the space it would occupy. To all such w'e ex- 
tend our sincere thanks. Our relations with the Town Com- 
mittee, who have charge of this work, have been pleasant all 
through the vears we have been engaged in our labor, and 
they have rendered us much valuable assistance. The work 
involved in securing the originals of the portraits and illustra- 
tions which appear in the history has been great, but we be- 
lieve they add much to the value of the work. The half-tone 
plates, from which the portraits and illustrations are printed, 
are the work of the Howard-Wesson Company of Worcester. 

\\> had hoped at one time that the History would have 
been ready for the 150th Anniversary, but found that it would 
be impossible to do so and do justice to the book. This His- 
tory will therefore contain two Anniversary Celebrations, the 
Centennial and the Sesqui-Centennial, with much other valu- 
able material that could not have been included in the book 
had it been published at that time. 

LILLEY B. CASWELL. 



REPORT OF THE TOWN COMMITTEE 

The cclehraticjii (jf the Centennial Anniversary of the 
Town of Royalstcjn with Hon. Alexander H. P>ullock — three 
months later elected (lovernor of the Commonwealth — as 
orator of the day was an occasion which inspired our citizens 
with so much local pride and created such genuine historic 
interest that there was an immediate poinilar demand for the 
puhlication of a History of the Town. 

Accordinti^ly. at a Town Meeting- called in- the following- 
Septemher, a series of Resolutions were adopted covering 
this matter, one of which was framed as follows: " Resolved, 
that the history proposed should be compressed in an octavo 
volume of from 150 to 200 pages bound in a neat and sul)- 
stantial but not expensive binding, and that the copies printed 
should not exceed 500." 

The volume was hastily edited and promptly issued. 

Hut if the good fathers of that period had taken time for 
a more extended research in the held there opened up so 
richly before them and had aifordcd more abundant space in 
that volume for the mass of " varied and important matter " 
which could not possibly be compressed into an " octavo of 
200 pages " they would have won additional api)reciation 
from a grateful ])osterity. 

The need of a more complete and accurate Histor^• of 
Royalston has for many years been recognized, and as one 
after another of our older citizens whose memories were 
stored with historic facts of value have passed awav. the 
insistence for a new History of the Town became more 
pronounced. 

On Alarch 6, 1911, the Town voted "To raise and appro- 
priate the sum of five hundred dollars for the purpose of 
preparing and publishing a History of the Town of Rovalston. 
Chose Dr. iM-ank W. Adams, Charles H. Brown, William H. 
Leathe, Fred W. Cross and Colin AlacKenzie, Committee to 
have charge of the work." 

1 he work of compiling and writing the Histor}- was given 
by the Committee to Air Lilley B. Caswell of Athol, whose 
acquaintance with Royalston and her p-oi)le was intimate and 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON VII 

who had already achieved a creditable success as Historian of 
the Town of Athol. The writing of the Military History of 
the ToAvn. however, was given to Hon. Fred W. Cross, whose 
researches into the causes and events of the Civil War had 
been a life work and whose interest in Military History in 
general had been phenomenal. 

On March 2, 1914. as the work seemed nearing completion, 
the Town voted " To raise five hundred dollars toward print- 
ing and binding the History of the Town of Royalston. and 
that permission be hereby granted to any individual or group 
of individuals to furnish the additional amount required for 
the purpose, with the distinct understanding that any such 
volunteer contributors shall be reimbursed from the proceeds 
of the sales of the book." 

There has been some delay in publishing the work, but 
there is no legal process by which persons in possession of 
valuable historic information can be made to resign it, and 
we think, on the other hand, the reader will admit that the 
history is richer because patience has been allowed to have 
her perfect work. 

FRANK W. ADAMS, 
CHARLES H. BROWN, 
WILLIAM H. LEATHE, 
FRED W^ CROSS, 
COLIN MACKENZIE, 

Committee on History of Royalston. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 
Early Land Grants — Pierpont's Grant — Joseph Priest's 
Grant — Hapgood's Grant — Royalston Leg — Area — 
Proprietors — First Settlers. 1 — 7 

CHAPTER IL 
Naming the Town — Hon. Isaac Royall — Old Royall House — 

Incorporation of the Town. 8 — 13 

CHAPTER in. 
Town Meetings — First Town Meeting — Early Town Meet- 
ings — Roads — Day of Fasting and Prayer — First Town 
House — New Town Hall — Dedication of Town Hall. 14 — 21 

CHAPTER IV. 
Town Government — Selectmen — Sketches of Charles H. 
Brown — Luke B. Shepardson — Alfred W. Neal — As- 
sessors — Sketches of Levens G. Forbes — Myron E. 
Stockwell — Eugene G. Twntchell — Assessors' Reports 
— Town Clerks — Town Treasurers — Overseers of the 
Poor — Sketches of Charles A. Stimson — Colin Mac- 
kenzie — Franklin A. Brown. 23 — 39 

CHAPTER V. 
Scenery of Royalston — Brooks of Royalston — Forbes Falls 
— Doane's Falls — Old Elm — Minerals — Beryls — Beryl 
Hill Mine — Wild Animals — Wolves and Bears — Last 
Bear Hunt. 40 — 51 

CHAPTER VI. 

Churches of Royalston — First Congregational Church — 
Sketches of Pastors — Meeting Houses — Parsonage — 
The Church Bell — Statuette of the Angel Gabriel — 
Baptist Church at West Royalston — Sketches of Bap- 
tist Pastors — Baptist Meeting Houses — Baptist Church 
at Royalston Centre — Free Donation Society. 52 — 74 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON IX 

CHAPTER VII. 

Political — Petition to the President of the United States — 
Representatives — Delegates and Senators — Whigs — 
Vote for Governor — Vote for President. 75 — 84 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Education — First School and School Master — School Dis- 
tricts — Early School Committees — School Committees 
from 1845 — Sketches of Nellie G. W. Farrar — Charles 
E. Richardson — Eri S. Stew^art — High School Exhibi- 
tion of 1852 — Teachers — School Superintendents — 
College Graduates — Sketches of College Graduates — 
Libraries — Trustees of Public Library — Post Office. 85 — 112 

CHAPTER IX. 
Medical Profession — The Doctors Bacheller — Sketches of 
Doctors — The Legal Profession — Sketches of Law- 
yers. 113 — 126 

CHAPTER X. 
Red Letter Days of Royalston History — Centennial Celebra- 
tion — Rev. E. W. Bullard's Address of Welcome — Hon. 
Alexander H. Bullock's Address — Great Whig Gather- 
ing of 1840 — Dedication of Phinehas S. Newton Public 
Library — Royalston's First Old Home Week — Old 
Home Day of 1904 — Old Home Day of 1910 — Biennial 
Reunion of School District No. 7 — One Hundred and 
Fiftieth Anniversary — Sunday Services — Second Day 
— Third Day — Parade — Dr. Frank W. Adams' Address 
of Welcome — Addresses of Speakers at the Dinner — 
Address of Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge. 127^ — 160 

CHAPTER XL 
Old Royalston Families — Metcalf Family — The Brown Fam- 
ily — Bullock Family — P'rye Family — Bliss Family — 
Woodbury — Walker — Ballou — Shepardson — Nichols — • 
The Estabrooks — Gale Family — Bartlett — Dexter — 
White Family — Charles W. Bowker Family — Richard- 
son — Gregory — Goddard — Pierce — Perkins — Newton 
— Cutler. 161 — 282 



X HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

CHAPTER XII. 
Old Royalston Families — The Peck Family — Gates — The 
Wood Family — Holman — Raymond — Chase — Bragg — 
Fisher — Davis — Morse — Leathe — Lyman Stone Family 
Jacobs — Clement — Estey — Garfield — Shebna Paine 
Family — Pratt Family — The Chamberlain Family — Al- 
bion P. Mosman Family — The Blandings — The Greeley 
Family — Geo. D. Bolton Family — Bemis Family — Tan- 
dy Family — Bosworth Family — The Doane Family. 283 — 347 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Royalston's Writers of Poetry — Dr. Frank W. Adams' Epic 
Poem — Nancy Priest — Rev. Albert Bryant — Mrs. 
George Woodbury's Centennial Hymn — Sidney G. Bos- 
worth's One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary Hymn 
— Amanda Bemis Smith's Johnstown Flood Poem — 
Dulcenia M. Russell — Peck's Poem on Universalism — 
Wm. M. Leathe. 348—372 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Biographical — Col. George Whitney — William Fordyce Big- 
elow — George Fletcher Miller — Herman M. Partridge 
— J. Milton Partridge — Stephen H. Hejnvood — Cyrus 
P. Reed — Wm. D. Ripley — Benjamin Ward Upham — 
Caleb A. Cook — Rev. Ebenezer Cutler — Rev. Henry 
Cummings- — Solon Bryant — George Edward Miller. 373 — 383 

CHAPTER XV. 
Sons of Royalston — Asahel Peck — James Ormond Wilson — 
Hon. George Carter Richardson — Stephen Holman — 
Lieut. - Colonel Charles Cummings — Thomas Norton 
Hart — George Ellis Whitney — Frederic C. Nichols — 
Leonard Nichols — Robert Winthrop Adams — Edwin 
Augustus Fisher — Arthur A. Upham — John V. Hazen 
— John B. Bowker — Jenner E. Morse. 384 — 400 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Royalston's Soldier Record — Our Soldier Stock — The Rev- 
olution Period — Shay Insurrection — The War of 1812 
— The Civil War — List and Records of Royalston Sol- 
diers — Royalston Men Who Went from Other Towns 
and States. 401 — 445 



HISTORY OF KOY ALSTON XI 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Mercantile and Industrial — Stores on Royalston Common — 
Early Saw and Grist Mills — Royalston's Manufactures 
— -Plans of Royalston — Population — Income Taxes. 446 — 453 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Organizations — Masonic Fraternity — Royalston Grange, 

No. 195. 454—456 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Cemeteries — Grave Yard Under the Hill — Early Grave 

Yards — -New Cemetery — Epidemics. 457 — 459 

CHAPTER XX. 
Old Taverns — Stage Coaches. 460 — 462 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Old Customs and Practices — Warning Out — Tithing Men — 
Pounds — Perambulation of Town Bounds — Sealer of 
Weights and Measures. 463 — 466 

CHAPTER XXII. 
South Royalston — Desci'iptive and Industrial. 467 — 471 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Churches of South Royalston — Second Congregational 

Church — Methodist Church — Catholic Church. 472 — 480 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Sons of South Royalston — William Clark Peckham — Ches- 
ter Twitchell Stockwell — Hon. Fred Wilder Cross — 
Frederick Lysander Drury — Geoffrey B. Lehy — -Rev. 
John F. Lehy — V/illiam H. Bullard — J. Herbert King — - 
Fred D. Weeks. 481—491 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Biographical — Edward A. Carpenter — Everard B. Hanson 
— Ruel Roby Safford — Jesse Edgar Bodett — Nahum 
Longley — Josephus T. Day — Jonas M. Turner — John 
King — Silas Hale — Elisha F. Brown — Nathaniel G. 
Beckwith. 492—502 



XII 



TIISTORV OF KOYAL.STON 



CHAPTER XXVI. 
South Royaiston Brass Band— South Royalston Forty-Nin- 
ers— Silas Hale's Famous Green Mountain Morgan- 
South Royalston Grange— South Royalston Post Office 
—South Royalston Hotel— South Royalston School As- 

. ,. ' 503—512 

sociation. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
Cemeteries — Memorial Tablets — The Cross Memorial — 

The Lehy Memorial. 513—518 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
South Royalston Families— Salmon S. Farrar Family— Caleb 
W. Day Family — Timothy Lewis Family — Luther 
Harrington Family— The Hale Family— Rich Family— 
The Bacheller Families— The Silas W. Bachellor Fam- 
ily The Sherwin Family — Addison Sherwin Family — 

Melancthon Sherwin Family — The Whitmore Families 
—The Jones Family — Luther Bowker Family — Brasier 
H. French Family — The Stockwells — The Wheeler 
Families — Paul Wheeler Family — Russell Wheeler 
Family — The Clark Family — Timothy Clark Family — 
Charles Howe Brooks — Sylvender B. Forristall — Er- 
nest F. Porter. 519 — 558 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
South Royalston Physicians and Fire Department — South 

Royalston Physicians — Dr. J. B. Gould — Dr. Henry 0. 
Adams — Dr. Walter H. Adams — The Fire Department 
— Fire of 1892 — Fire of 1904. 559 — 562 

CHAPTER XXX. 
Royalston Hall of Fame. 560 — 566 

APPENDIX 
Historical Address at the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary by 
Fred W. Cross — Sketch of Luther E. Stewart — Sketch of Mrs. 
Mary (Pierce) Turner — Sketch of David P. Foster — Sketch of 
Myron Walker Sherwood. 

INDEX 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Portraits 



Adams, Robert Winthrop 394 
Adams, Dr. Henry O. 498 

Adams, Dr. Frank W. 117 



B 



114 
211 
211 
211 
422 
422 
422 
235 
427 
374 
195 
496 
246 
437 
360 
308 
306 
306 
306 
27 
173 



Bacheller, Dr. Stephen J 
Ballou, Almando 
Ballou, Luther 
Ballou, Mrs. Luther 
Barrus, John W. 
Barrus, Marshall 
BaiTus, William J. 
Bartlett, John N. 
Barton, Willis H. 
Bigelow, William F. 
Bliss, Harrison 
Bo'lette, Jesse Edgar 
Bo.vker, Charles W. 
Bowker, George W. 
Bosworth, Sidney G. 
Bragg, Everett B. 
Bragg, Everett Eugene 
Bragg, Dr. Francis A. 
Bragg, Henry O. 
Brooks, Charles H. 
Brown, Col. Benjamin 
Brown, Benjamin Hammond 

175, 424 
Brown, Charles H. 27 

Brown, Edward A. 439 

Brown, Franklin A. 38 

Brown, Nancy (Wood) 176 

Brown, William O. 439 

Bryant, Rev. Albert 360 

Bryant, Mrs. Almeda (Dexter) 

240 
Bullard, William H. 490 

Bullock, Hon. Alexander H. 

180 
Bullock, Bamett 183 

Bullock, Bamett Ellis 184 

Bullock, Brigham Newton 184 
Bullock, Calvin 184 

Bullock, Charles S. 184 

Bullock, James Frederick 184 
Bullock, Hon. Rufus 178 



Carpenter, Edward A. 492 



Chase, Chauncy 300 

Chase, Elizabeth Waite 108 

Chase, Francis 300 

Chase, George 300 

Chase, John S. 432 

Clark, Cortland A. 420 

Cook, Caleb A. 379 

Cross, Edward W. 431 

Cross, Hon. Fred W. 484 

Cutler, Major - General Lysan- 

der 440 

Clement, Wm. W. 332 

D 

Davis, Daniel 313 

Day, Caleb W. 523 

Day, David W. 432 

Day, Josephus T. 498 

Day, Nathan S. 428 

Day, Uri C. 431 
Deavitt, Caroline (Harrington) 

529 

Dexter, Bela 240 

Dexter, Cynthia 238 

Dexter, Ezenezer Wheeler 238 

Dexter, Moses 240 

Drury, Frederick Lysander 486 



Fairbanks, Rev. Francis J. 59 

Fallon, Martin 427 

Farrar, Salmon S. 519 

Fisher, Augustus J. 308 

Fisher, Edwin A. 308 

Forbes, Levens G. 38 

P'rye, Benjamin 188 

Frye, Mrs. Benjamin 188 

Fry, Benjamin A. 434 

Frye, Frank B. and Family 188 

Fry, George E. 420 

Fry, Capt. John 186 



Gale, Harlow A. 229 

Gale, Samuel C. 229 

Garfield, Moses, Jr. 332 

Goddard, Franklin H. 267 

Greeley, Jonas 428 

H 

Hanson, Everard B. 496 



XIV 



HISTORY OF ROYALSrON 



Harrington, Henry M. 529 

Harrington, Dea. Luther 529 
Harrington, Sarah (Nourse) 

529 
Hazen, Rev. Norman 59 

Hunt, James N. 442 



Jones, Dea. Aaron 



548 



Peck, Hamilton S. 285 

Peck, Henry 288 

Peck, Lyman 283 

Peck, Lovina (Davis) 283 

Peck, Sullivan 288 

Pierce, George 269 

Pierce, George E. 269 

Pierce, Horace 267 

Fierce, Milo H. 267 

Priest, Nancy 355 



King. Clarence E. 434 

Knight, Henry E. 428 

king, John 498 



Leathe, William H. 321 

Lee, Rev. Joseph 54 

Lee, Mrs. Rachel (Dexter) 240 

Lehy, Geoffrey B. 488 

Lehy, Rev. John F. 489 

Lewis, Enoch T. 527 

Lewis, Timothy 525 

Lewis, Mrs. Timothy 525 

Longley, Nahum 496 

Lord, Mrs. Delia (Pierce) 269 

M 

Mackenzie, Colin 38 
Mackenzie, Mrs. Emeline 

(White) 108 

Mellen, Joel B. 444 

Metcalf, Eliab Wight 166 

Metcalf, Isaac Stevens 166 

Metcalf, Jacob 166 

Morandi, Sophia (Ballou) 211 

Morgan, George W. 431 

Moore, Henry C. 431 

Moore, John S. 424 

Morse, Russell 300 

N 

Neale, Alfred W. 514 

Newton, Charles H. 278 

Newton, Edward Elmer 278 

Newton, Col. Elmer 277 

Newton, Phinehas S. 278 

Nichols, Frederic C. 394 

Nichols, Joseph T. 224 

Nichols, Mrs. Joseph T. 224 

Nichols, Leonard 394 

Norcross, Chauncy W. 428 



Partridge, Harlan P. 442 

Partridge, Herman M. 424 

Peck, Benoni 286 



Raymond, Alfred Dwight 297 

Raymond, Alfred J. 298 

Raymond, Joseph 296 

Rich, B. Warren 534 

Rich, Benjamin W. 534 

Rich, Jeremiah A. 534 

Rich, Jeremiah E. 534 

Pichsrdson, Charles E. 96 

Richardson, Stephen 332 

Richmond, E. J. 514 
Royal, Col. Isaac 

Facing title page 

Rugg, George N. 439 



Safford, Roby R. 496 

Shepardson, Rev. Daniel 219 

Shepardson, Eri 221 

Shepardson, John 434 

Shepardson, Rev. John 221 
Shepardson, Luke B. 27 

Sherwin, George P. 498 

Stewart, Alexander 432 
Stewart, Luther E. 96 

Smith, James B. 420 
Smith, Mrs. Amanda (Bemis) 

360 
Stimson, Charles A. 38 

Stone, Lvman and Family 322 

Stockwell, Caleb N. 548 

Stockwell, Edwin 548 



Townsend, James 439 

Turner, Dea. Jonas M. 548 

Turner, Mrs. Mary (Pierce) 269 



U 

Upham, Benjamin W. 
Upham, Charles M. 



Vose, Edwin O. 

W 
Walker, Dea. Joseph 
Wheeler, Ezra L. 



379 
424 



422 

59 
434 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 



XV 



Wheeler, Lyman S. 420 

Wheeler, R. P. B. 444 

Wheeler, Warren L. 432 

White, Adriel C. 243, 442 

White, Asaph M. 243, 437 

White, Erastus 243 

White, Philetus D. 243 

White, Rollin N. 437 

White, Stephen P. 437 



White, Wellington 243, 444 

Whitney, Colonel George 373 

Whitney, George Ellis 394 

Wood, George H. 427 

Wood, Henry S. 444 

Wood, John M. 442 

Woodbury, George 59 

Woodbury, Mrs. George 360 



Buildings, Scenery, etc. 



Old Bullock Mansion — Summer 
Home of Donald M. Hill 1 
Old Royall House and Slave 
Quarters 9 

Map of Original Grant of Roy- 
alston 10 

Town Hall Built in 1867 19 

West Side of Common 19 

Forbes Falls 43 

Doanes Falls 44 

Old Elm on Athol Road 45 

First Congregational Church, 
Royalston Centre 61 

Second Congregational Church, 
South Royalston 6 L 

Baptist Church, West Royal- 
ston 61 
Statuett of the Angel Gabriel 

63 
Old Baptist Church, Royalston 
Centre 73 

Phinehas S. Newton Public Li- 
brary 108 
Isaac Metcalf House, Summer 
Home of Miss Edith Metcalf 
171 



Old Metcalf House " Under the 
Hill" 171 

Old Tavern and Store Build- 
ings 
West Side of Common 447 

Old Fire Engine 447 

Amos Doane's Mill 449 

Fitchburg Railroad Station, 
South Royalston 467 

South Royalston Park 467 

Whitney Stone Woolen Mill, 
South Royalston 469 

Old Chair Shop, South Royal- 
stone 469 
Chair Shop Hands, 1885 469 
Plant of the American Woolen 
Co. at South Royalston 471 
Pioneer Engine Co., South Roy- 
alston 560 
Rescue Engine Co., South Roy- 
alston 560 
View in South Royalston 513 
Riverside Cemetery, South Roy- 
alston 513 
Dedication of E. W. Cross Me- 
morial 514 



CHAPTER I 

EARLY LAND GRANTS 

Not a town in this grand old Commonwealth of historic 
towns can boast of a better beginning or a more reputable heri- 
tage of name and blood. The proprietors and early settlers of 
Royalston were men of character whose influence can be traced 
throughout the whole structure of our nation, and they laid 
here on these splendid hills, the foundation of a town in which 
the sterling qualities of the glorious days of old New England 
have come down through the generations. 

The territory comprised in the township of Royalston passed 
from a public domain to private hands in two ways — by public 
sales and private grants. It was the last of the entire territory 
of Worcester County to be disposed of by grants and charters, 
and in this respect Royalston is the last and youngest of the 
towns of the County. Twenty-three hundred acres of its area 
were comprised in four grants, known as Pierpont's, Priest's, 
Hapgood's, and a grant to Benoni Moore, Joseph Petty and 
Robert Cooper, while 28,357 acres were purchased at public 
sale by Samuel Watts, Thomas Hubbard, (then speaker of the 
House,) Isaac Freeman, Joseph Richards, Isaac Royal, Caleb 
Dana, James Otis, Joseph Wilder, Jr., and John Chandler, Jr., 
the deed being given Dec. 27, 1752, and the price paid /1, 348. 

At a later date others famous in the annals of New England 
and National history became proprietors of Royalston soil. 
Among these were John Hancock, the first governor of Massa- 
chusetts and first signer of the Declaration of Independence; 
James Bowdoin, the second Governor of the State, while James 
Otis, one of the original proprietors, was the eloquent orator 
of the Revolution. The town had also at least one t'.tled land 
owner, Lady Temple, widow of Sir John Temple, baronet, once 
owned eight hundred acres of Royalston soil. 

The Proprietors held their meetings in Boston, "at the 
Bunch of Grapes Tavern," and at the first meeting it was mo- 
tioned that the land aforesaid be called Royal-sh re, and they 



2 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

unanimously asroed thereto, whereupon the Hon. Isaac Royal 
generously gave his word to give the Partners twenty-five pounds 
sterliufi towards a meeting house for said town. Here we first 
find our name which is later call(>d Royalston. 

These four grants that we have mentioned were bestowed 
as bounties for military services rendered, or for loyalty shown 
in other ways. 

Pierpont's Grant was the largest of these and was located 
in the northeast corner of the present boundaries of the town, 
b'lt who he was and why he received this land we have not been 
able to ascertain. This grant covered the territory which in 
the early part of the nineteenth century included the farms 
of John Wood, Joel and Daniel Taft, John Holman, Capt. 
William Chase, Jacob Hale, Joel Howard, Nathan Reed and 
William Withington. 

Joseph Priest's Grant, which consisted of three hundred acres 
was given him as a recognition of his loyalty in extending the 
hospitality of his half-way house near the easterly fine of the 
town, to all those who passed that way to and from the French 
wars. This was located east of Pierpont's, and the name of 
Priest still lives in the beautiful httle river that bears his name. 
Hapgood's Grant consisted of two hundred acres granted to 
Thomas Hapgood, Nov. 26, 1742, and signed by Governor Shir- 
ley, Dec. 1, 1742. This was laidoutby AbnerLee, surveyor, who 
says, "we began at a stake and stones on ye North line of Poquaig, 
at a corner of Canady township, then ran North, etc.," 244 
rods, and bounded northerly and easterly "on Province land." 
This was ordered in "consideration of services in the war with 
the eastern Indians and his sufferings by reason of wounds re- 
ceived from them, whereby in his advanced age he was disabled 
from labor for the support of himself and family." 

Probably the earfiest grant of what are now Royalston lands, 
was one made Dec. 15, 1737, to Benoni Moore, Joseph Petty 
and Robert Cooper, which was afterwards assigned to Samuel 
Hunt of Northfield and others. This consisted of 600 acres 
and was located between what is now Athol and the province 
line — "to be laid out 480 rods long on the eastern line of what 
is now Warwick, and 200 rods wide from west to east, and no 
more." This grant was made in consideration of services ren- 
dered by the grantees in burying the bleached bones of certain 



EARLY LAND GRANTS 3 

soldiers, who, led by Capt. Beers, were marching from the river 
below to the assistance of Northfield, but fell into an ambus- 
cade and were slaughtered by the Indians. 

The sale of Royalston lands, which we have mentioned, 
was in accordance with a vote approved by the council in June, 
1752, ordering a sale of the lands north of Pequoig, now called 
Athol, and onward to the province line. Evidently the pur- 
pose was not so much to replenish the public treasury, as to 
settle this then waste corner of the public domain, and clear 
the map, and so effectually was this accomplished that the Sur- 
veyor's chain swept in a strip of several miles in length lying 
along the whole Northern boundary of Winchendon, separat- 
ing it from the Province line, which had inadvertantly been 
omitted in the survey of that town, and this was afterwards 
called the Royalston Leg. This proved an incumbrance and 
the leg was amputated in 1780 and transferred to Winchendon. 

When the new town started off as an incorporated township, 
her area amounted to 30,577 acres, the private grants included. 
The changes that have been made since that time have affected 
the area of the township as follows: The Royalston leg set off 
to Winchendon was estimated at about 2,000 acres. In 1783 
several thousand acres were appropriated to Orange, when that 
town was incorporated. In 1799 three hundred or four hun- 
dred acres were added from Athol and Gerry, now Phillipston. 
In 1803 several hundred acres were added from Athol and in 
1837 not far from two hundred acres were taken from Phillip- 
ston and annexed to Royalston. In 1860 the Assessors report- 
ed the whole number of acres from the survey of 1831 — includ- 
ing the additions since made — as 26,882 acres. 

That the Proprietors and Founders of Royalston had strong 
religious principals and were men of moral and mental worth is 
shown in the wise and liberal measures they devised for settl- 
ing their lands. By the conditions of the sale they were re- 
quired to locate s'xty families, each with a clearing and a house, 
build a meeting house for their use, provide adequate mill facili- 
ties and devote one sixty-third part of their entire purchase to 
each of the following objects: A settlement for the first ordained 
minister, for the ministerial support, and for a public school. 

The records designate two divisions of these lands. The 
first consisted of seventeen two hundred acre lots appropriated 



^ IIISTOKV OK KOYAI.STON 

for tlic scttlciucnt of the sixty families and the pul)lic lots re- 
(luiivtl l)y th(> conditions of the salo and called the "settler's di- 
vision" or "first division." In the second "division," called 
also "the Proprietor's part" or "division," the residue of the 
land was also laid out in two hundred acre lots, where it could 
be done, and in other cases the contents of the smaller lots were 
expressed. The meadow lands, however, were laid out in ten 
acre lots so far as the committee judged them worth the expense 
of surveying; and a special committee was chosen to "qualify" 
tlu> lots, by so "coupling a good lot and a poorer lot together 
that justice be done to each proprietor in the drawing of the 
lots." 



FIRST SETTLERS 

Although the first possession of this soil by your ancestors 
dates from 1752, the settlement was delayed because of the 
French war of 1756, so that the active settlement of this town 
did not commence until 1762 when six families moved in. 
This war which was the greatest contest on this continent prior 
to the Revolution had stopped all labors of peaceful enterprise, 
and during the seven years of this conflict it is stated that Mas- 
sachusetts alone sent thirty-five thousand of her sons to the 
field, and the call to arms had reached every nook and corner 
of the province. 

The war had so far spent its fury by 1761 that the proprietors 
of this township had granted deeds to twenty-one settlers, and 
in the next year the ten acres which includes what is now your 
Common was solemnly consecrated for the meeting house, the 
training field and the burial ground. The place for the mills 
was selected on the Lawrence stream near one of its beautiful 
falls, and in 1763, a meeting house was contracted for, which 
was completed in 1764, and the work of Iniilding up a new town 
had commemced in earnest. 

The six families of 17G2 were soon followed by others, and 
so rapid was the incoming of these new settlers, that almost 
as soon as the French war had closed as many as seventy-five 
heads of families had become estabhshed here. They had come 



FIRST SETTLERS 5 

from the towns of the southern and eastern part of the state, 
some of the best blood of the Colony, and planted here on the 
heights of Northern Worcester, in the mountain air surrounded 
by some of the most beautiful and picturesque scenery of the 
state, a township whose history during the years was to be 
studded with patriotic associations, and where religion and 
education were recognized as the foundation of true living, a 
bright star in the constellation of Worcester County and the 
State. 

We are not certain who the first six families of 1762 were, 
but it is safe to say Obadiah Walker, William Town, Jonah 
Hill and Nathan Cutting were among that number. 

Obadiah Walker came from Douglas. He married Nancy 
McCullock of Barre, and brought up a large family. He died 
in Croydon, N. H., in 1810 at the age of ninety. 

William Town located just north of the Lawrence meadows. 
He brought up a large family, embodied with the Congrega- 
tional church in 1766, and was a prominent and respected 
citizen, being one of the first Assessors and one of the early 
Town Treasurers. He died in 1811 at the age of eighty. 

Jonah Hill from Douglas located north of the Common 
The Royalston Memorial says that his house stood near the 
southeast corner of Joseph Estabrook's pasture. His daughter, 
Abigail, is claimed as the first-born of Royalston, the records 
giving the date of her birth as March 27, 1764. She married 
Elijah Walker, son of Obadiah Walker. Her brother Ephraim 
Hill married Martha Walker, daughter of Obadiah, and Jonah 
Hill settled both his son and son-in-law on a 200 acre lot in the 
west part of the town. Jonah Hill died in 1808 at the age of 
sixty-nine. 

Nathan Cutting settled near what is now the William H. 
Leathe farm. He spent the winter of 1762-6.3, cjuite alone, in 
a house or place, sunk partly into the hill, looking out upon the 
meadows. He "embodied" with the Congregational church 
in 1766. He died in 1821 at the age of eighty. 

Lieut. Jonas Allen, formerly written AUiene, was a very 
early settler, he settled west of the Nathan Cutting place, at 
the corner of the roads beyond the Bowker farm. He built a 
saw-mill north of his house where the Lyman Stone mill stands. 
He was a prominent man and at the head of an interesting 



<5 HIvSTORY OF ROYALSTON 

family. He was one of the first Assessors and also one of the 
Selectmen for five years between 1770 and 1780. He died in 
1822 at the age of ninety-three. 

Silas Cutting settled north of the Allen mill. He was one 
of the first who "embodied*' with the First Congregational 
church in 1766. He died while abroad in the war in 1777. 

Lieut. Nathan Wheeler settled west of William Clement, and 
he and his wife organized with the Congregational church in 
1766. They removed to Lincoln, N. H., about 1792. 

Henry, Isaac and William Nichols from Sutton all hatl early 
settlements in town, their families are more fully described in 
the Old Royalston Families in another chapter. 

Michael Grant must also have been a very early settler for 
his son Stephen is the first person whose death appears on the 
records, Sept. 4, 1764. He settled north of the Capt. Isaac 
Metcalf place. 

Aaron Grant settled the place next south of Michael's, and 
it is probable that this family has the honor of having the first 
wedding in Royalston, the record stating that Aaron Grant 
and Mrs. Mary Town of Sutton were married Feb. 20, 1771. 
He married for his second wife widow Sarah Morse, daughter 
of Capt. Jonas Parker, of Lexington and Revolutionary memory. 
He is said to have been a good farmer, but that he persisted in 
wearing "small clothes," dispensing with the long stockings, 
knee-buckles and shoes, through all but the winter months. 

Capt. Jonathan Sibley from Sutton was one of the early sett- 
lers. In 1763 he bought and prepared his farm for settlement. 
This was situated on the road leading directly South from the 
Common by the east side of the school house. He would clear 
a piece of woodland here, go back to look after hay-making in 
Sutton, and return in time to sow a rye field in Royalston. The 
next year after he purchased the farm he brought on his wife, 
two cows and a pair of steers. The wild beasts soon made way 
with one of the steers. He became a substantial farmer and 
valuable citizen, being one of the early Selectmen, Town Treas- 
urer for twenty-seven years from 1781 to 1808 inclusive and 
was Representative to the Legislature in 1786. He died in 
1810 at the age of seventy. 

Ajnos Jones who settled north of the Jonas Allen mill, came 
in during 1763. A good moose story is told of him. He was 



FIRST SETTLERS 7 

out looking up his cattle and hearing a crashing among the un- 
derbrush, supposed the cattle were near at hand; but instead 
of his cattle a huge moose came forth and confronted him; 
whose hide he afterwards converted into a pair of leather breeches 
and a side-saddle. The breeches he wore himself; but upon 
the side-saddle he persuaded one Lydia WooUey to ride home 
with him, and take permanent possession of the saddle, and 
his domestic affairs. He died in 1826 at the age of eighty-four. 

Titnothij Richardson from Wrentham settled where Benj. 
W. Upham formerly lived. He and his wife were original mem- 
bers of the First Congregational Church, and he was one of the 
first selectmen. 

The town contributing the largest number of the early Roy- 
alston settlers was Sutton, Mass., from which more than twenty 
families came. Another town sending a liberal contribution 
was Rehobath in Bristol County from which came more than 
a dozen families, including the Bullock, Bliss and Peck 
families. Other towns from which the settlers came 
were Douglas, Upton, Rutland, Harvard, Shrewsbury, Brook- 
field and Grafton in Worcester County and Wrentham, Read- 
ing, Sudbury, Abington, Attleboro, Acton and Stow in the 
eastern part of the State. 



CHAPTER II 
NAMING THE TOWN 

The proprietors held meetings from 1753 over a period of 
thirty-four years until 1787, when their records were closed and 
sealed. Their meetings were held in Boston , "at the Bunch 
of Clrapes Tavern," and at the first meeting it was "motioned 
that the land aforesaid be called Royal-shire, and they unani- 
mously agreed thereto, whereupon the Hon. Isaac Royal, gen- 
erously gave his Word to give the partners 25 sterling, towards 
building a meeting-house for said town." Here we first find 
the name of the town which it bore until the act of Incorpora- 
tion in February 1765 gave it the name of Royalston. 

The Hon. Isaac Royal, from whom the town of Royalston 
received its name, was a citizen of Medford, Mass., a gentle- 
man of great spirit for public enterprise, devoted in admiration 
for his king, and generous and munificent for his time. From 
1743 to 1752 he served as deputy to the General Court and regu- 
larly returned his salary to the treasury of the town of Charles- 
town. For sixteen years he was chairman of the Board of 
Selectmen in Charlestown, and when his estate was set off to 
IVJedford he served there in the same offices. He was modera- 
tor of town meeting when resolutions against the Stamp Act 
were passed and used his influence toward the repeal of the law, 
I>om 1752 to 1774, he was a member of the Governor's Council, 
He give generously for the benefit of church and schools 
In CnarlesLOwn and when Harvard Hall was burned in 1764, 
and with it the entire college library, he contributed a large 
sam to make good the loss. He also gave two thousand acres 
of land, a large part of which was in the town of Royalston, to 
found a professorship of law in Harvard University, which was 
known as the Royall Professorship of, and which was followed 
later by the Harvard Law School. 

In addition to his gift of twenty-five pounds sterling to the 
town of Royalston towards building a meeting house, a pulpit 
Bible which was used in the First Congregational Church for 



NAMING THE TOWN g 

seventy-five years, was a gift from him, and by his will he also 
gave the town two hundred acres for school purposes, and pro- 
mised to give a full lot of land in the township to the first male 
child that should be born in town, but as several girls took the 
precedence of birth, and the breaking out of the Revolution, 
Royal Chase, who was named after him, came too late on the 
stage, and died to early, too avail himself of the offer. 

The clouds which had been gathering for several years broke, 
the Revolution opened, and Isaac Royall, the friend and bene- 
factor of Royalston who could not be disloyal to his king, sailed 
for England in 1776, leaving his home said to be "one of the 
grandest estates in North America," never to return. Letters 
written by him in 1779 indicated a yearning desire to return to 
Massachusetts and to make his last bed beside his relatives 
and friends. But that was not to be, and he died in Kensing- 
ton, England in 1781. 

We believe the fathers of Royalston showed good judgment 
in not changing the name of their town, because of this act of 
their benefactor, as did other Massachusetts towns because of 
similar acts of those whose names they bore. An act of Legis- 
lature passed soon after the Declaration of Independence reads 
as follows: "An Act for discontinuing the name of a town in 
the County of Worcester lately incorporated by the name of 
Hutchinson, and call the same Barre," Governor Hutchinson 
from whom the town was named had becom.e a Loyalist ancj 
hence this action of the town, 

Governor Bullock in his address at the Centennial Anniver= 
gary of Royalston says in regard to this matter: "No town was 
more patriotic than this in the Revolution; but I rejoice that 
its citizens appear never for one moment to have thought of 
giving up their corporate name because their benefactor had 
estranged himself from their political opinions. The n;>me 
of this town and the title of the Cambridge law professorship 
may honorably be retained in his remembrance." 

The idea of preserving the old Royall House, the home of 
Isaac Royall, for the sake of its history and aesthetic worth, 
was first conceived in 1889 by the Sarah Bradlee Fulton Chapter, 
Daughters of the American Revolution of Medford, In April 
1901, the chapter rented the house and opened it for the bene- 
fit and pleasure of the public. Becoming convinced that a 



20 HISTORY OF ROYAI.STON 

larger organization with more far-reaching acquaintance was 
necessary, the chapter interested a group of patriotic men and 
women to form a corporation to purchase the building. As a 
result the Royall House Association was incorporated in 1905. 
In April 1907, an option upon the mansion, out buildings 
and about three-quarters of an acre of land was obtained, and 
the Association began raising money for the purchase. The 
fund grew until April 16, 1908, the one hundred thirty-third 
anniversary of the day when Colonel Isaac Royall left his beau- 
tiful residence never to return, the deed was obtained. It is 
a monument to its former proprietors and the times they re- 
present. Few houses can boast such a succession of eminent 
owners, and few have stood for nearly two centuries with so 
few changes in architecture. It is bequeathed to the people of 
Massachusetts by those who had a part in the making of our 
Commonwealth, and it becomes the duty as well as privilege 
of the men and women of today to preserve this grand old home- 
stead for future generations. 



INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN 

It was only three years after the active settlement of the 
town began, that the conditions were such that the formation 
of a town was deemed desirable, and in response to a petifon 
presented to the General Court, the following act of incorpora- 
tion was passed February 19, 1765: An act for erecting a town 
in the County of Worcester by the name of Royalston: Whereas. 
the proprietors of the land lying north of Athol, within the county 
of Worcester, known by the name of Royalshire, have petitioned 
this Court that, for the reasons mentioned, said land may be 
incorporated into a town and vested with the powers and 
authority belonging to other towns, for the encouragement of 
said settlement. 

Be it enacted by the Governor, Council and House of Re 
presentatives — 

Sec. 1. That said tract of land bounded and described as fol- 
lows, viz., beginning at a pillar of stones on the province line, 
the northwest corner, and from thence running south by the 
east line of Warwick five miles and two hundred and ninetV' 



VTAR'WIdiC 



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WHN^nff/f^V 



INCORPORATION GF THE TOWN H 

three rods to a pillar of stones the southwest corner; and from 
thence running east with the north hne of Athol five miles and 
two hundred and sixty-five rods to a red oak and heap of stones, 
the northeast corner of Athol; and from thence south by the 
east line of Athol one mile and 190 rods to a stake and stones 
a corner of Templeton; and from thence east three degrees 
south one mile and eighty-six rods by said Templeton to the 
southeast corner; and from thence north twelve degrees east 
five miles and eighty rods on the west line of Winchendon to 
a heap of stones, the northwest corner of sad Winchendon; 
and thence east twelve degrees south six miles and sixty rods 
by the north hne of said Winchendon to the northeast corner 
thereof; and from thence north twelve degrees east by the west 
line of, Dorchester Canada two hundred and ninety-five rods 
to the province north bounds; and from thence by the province 
line fourteen miles and two hundred and eighty-five rods to the 
corner first mentioned, be and hereby is erected into a town 
by the name of Royalston; and the inhabitants thereof shall 
have and enjoy all such immunities and privileges as other 
towns in this province have and do by law enjoy. 

And be it further enacted — 

Sect. 2. That Joshua Willard, Esq., be and hereby is, em- 
powered to issue his warrant to some principal inhabitant of 
said town of Royalston, requiring him, in his majesty's name, 
to warn and notify the said inhabitants qualified to vote in 
town affairs, to meet together at such time and place in said 
town as shall be appointed in said warrant to choose such offi- 
cers as the law directs, and may be necessary to manage the 
affairs of said town; and the inhabitants so met shall be, and 
are hereby, empowered to choose officers accordingly. 

And be it further enacted — 

Sect. 3. That all those persons that have already agreed 
for to settle in said township, and have given bonds to perform 
the same, shall be accounted as part and parcel of said inhabi- 
tants, and be allowed to vote in their town meetings in all town 
affairs, as fully as those who actually live upon their settlements 
in said town, and shall be accordingly taxed for the purposes 
aforesaid. In Council Jan. 31, 1765, read a first time. In 
Council Feb. 1, 1765, read a second time, and passed to be en- 
grossed- Seut down for concurrence. Jon. Cotton, D, 



22 HISTORY OF ROYAI.STON 

Secretary. In the House of Representatives February 15, 1765. 
Read three several times and concurred. 

S. WHITE, Speaker. 

As we have already stated Royalston as far as the disposal 
of territory by grants and charters was concerned is the young- 
est of Worcester County towns; for although Athol and Tem- 
pleton were both incorporated, only about three years before 
Royalston, and Winchendon only a single year, yet the grants 
of lands and settlements of these towns had been made much 
eai-lier, varying from twenty to thirty years. The wave of 
occupation seemed to have paused below our border for some 
years, and when the settlement did commence there was Init a 
brief period between the first planting and the municipal incor- 
poration, an interim of only three years, and as it has been said, 
"there was no infancy here; it was robust manhood from the 
start." 

The inhabitants of that part of the town known as the Roy- 
alston Leg were not long satisfied with their allotment in the 
town of Royalston, and petitioned the General Court to be 
annexed to Winchendon. In compliance with their petition the 
following act was passed, June 17,1780: 

^Yh,erea& it appears that the inhabitants living in a strip of 
land belonging to Royalston in the County of Worcester, called 
Royalston Leg, about one mile wide, lying the whole length 
of the town of Winchendon, would be much accommodated by 
being set off from Royalston and annexed to the town of Win- 
chendon,— 

Be it therefore enacted by the Council and House of Repre- 
sentatives in General Court assembled and by the authority 
of the same: — 

Sect. 1. That all that part of Royalston, called Royalston 
Leg, containing by estimation about two thouand acres, begin- 
ning at the northwest corner of Winchendon, then running 
northwardly a parallel line with Winchendon west line about 
one mile to the province line so-called; then eastwardly by the 
province line the length of the town of Winchendon, be and 
hereby is set off from Royalston and annexed to Winchendon; 
and the town of Winchendon is hereby extended so far north 
as the state line of New Hampshire and said land with the in- 



I 



INCORPORATION OF THK TOWN 13 

habitants living therein shall forever, hereafter be considered 
as lielonging to the town of Winehendon provided nevertheless, — 

Sect. 2. That the said inhabitants and non-residents hall 
pay all taxes which are already assessed and levied on the town 
of Royalston, anything in this act to the contrary notwithstand- 
ing 

Provided also, — 

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. 

Sect. 3. That the amount of the estates contained on and 
in said tract of land and the polls thereon returned ])y the 
Assessors of the town of Royalston in the valuation last taken as 
belonging to Royalston be deducted from the return of said 
Assessors and added to the return made by the Assessors of the 
town of Winehendon. 

It seems that the Town of Winehendon was not willing to 
receive this strip of land without imposing certain conditions 
upon the inhabitants of that territory, for we find that at a 
town meeting held March 2, 1778 that it was "Voted to receive 
the strip of land lying between the north line of Winehendon 
and the Province line called "Royalston Leg" on to the town of 
Winehendon, upon the inhabitants of said Leg and several 
principal inhabitants in the north part of Winehendon promis- 
ing never to be instrumental in moving the meeting-house off 
of the meeting-house Common, so called." 



CHAPTER III 
TOWN MEETINGS 

The true j^lory of Royalston, as of all New England towns, 
has been the town meeting. It has been said, and truly, 
I believe, that "No other practicable human institution has 
been devised or conceived to secure the just ends of local 
government, so felicitous as the town meeting. It 
brought together the rich and the poor, the good and the Inid. 
and gave character, eloquence and natural leadership full and 
free play." 

It would be interesting if the records could give us some of 
the stirring speeches made on exciting occasions by our Royal- 
ston fathers, but enough can be gleaned from the language of 
the voters recorded, to show that the citizens of Royalston took 
a deep interest in the affairs of the Nation, State and Town. 

The first Town Meeting of Royalston was called by Joshua 
Willard, a Justice of the Peace of Petersham, the Warrant for 
which reads as follows: 

WORCESTER, SS. 

To Timothy Richardson, one of the principal Inhabitants 
of Royalston in said County of Worcester, Greeting, 

Pursuant to an Act of the Great and General Court, in His 
Maje.sty's Name, you are hereby required forwith, to notify 
and warn the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of said Royal- 
ston quaUfied to vote in Town affairs as the Law directs, to 
meet at the Meeting House in Royalston on Tuesday the 
seventh day of May next, at one of the clock afternoon, of said 
day then and there to act on the following articles, viz.: — 

Art. 1. To choose a Moderator for said meeting. 

Art. 2. To choose a Town Clerk, Selectmen, Town Treas- 
urer and all other officers as the law directs. 

And make return of this warrant with your doings herein, 
to the Inhabitants of said Town at said meeting. 



TOWN MEETINGS 15 

Given under my hand and seal at Petersham this 23d day 
of April, 1765, and in the 5th year of his Majesty's Reign. 

JOSHUA WILLARD, 

Justice of the Peace. 

Pursuant to this call the voters of Royalston met and chose 
Joshua Willard, Esq., as Moderator for said meeting, and elect- 
ed the following town officers: 

John Fry, Town Clerk; Ca.pt. John Fry, Timothy Richard- 
son, Benjamin Woodbury, Selectmen; Peter Wootlbury, Toivn 
Treasurer; Zebulon Peirce, Constable; Jonas Alline, Jr., Nathan 
Cutting, Wardners; Isaac Nichols, Jonah Hill, Benj. Woodbury, 
Thomas Chambcrlin, Surveyors of Highways; David Lyon, 
Cornelius Putnam, Fence Vieivers; Nathan Goddard, Nathaniel 
Rich, Deer Reeves; Ezekiel Cutler, Daniel Owen, Hog Reeves; 
()l:)adiaii Walker, Jonas Babcock, Fence Viewers; Benjamin 
Woodbury, Surveyor of Clapboards and Shingles; Peter Wood- 
bury, Sealer of Weights and Measures. 

The first Town Meeting for the transaction of business was 
held June 12, 1765, when the following votes were passed: 

First. Chose Capt. John Fry, Moderator for said meeting. 

Secondly. Voted to raise nine shillings on each hundred 
acre Settlers Right, for preaching and other Town Charges. 

Thirdly. Voted to raise Eleven Shillings on each Settlers 
Rights to be worked on the roads and clearing the land round 
the Meeting House; each man to be allowed three shillings per 
day. 

Fourthly. Voted that Constables warn Town Meetings 
by posting up notifications or copies of the Warrant at the Meet- 
ing House door in Royalston: Voted that the first Monday 
in March be the day for the Town Meeting annually in Roy- 
alston. 

EARLY TOWN MEETINGS 

Roads. The first roads laid out by the town after its in- 
corporation, were accepted at the annual town meeting held 
March 3d, 1766, and were described as follows: 

"Laid out a road 3 rods wide beginning by the Common 
Land near the Meeting House in Royalston, then running north- 
wards by marked trees thro Ebenezer .Land to land of 



l(, TirSTORV OF KOYALSTON 

Capt. .lohu Fry's land, and strai.sild on his land to the west 
end of his dwelling- house. 
Feb. 8, 17()(). 

.JOHN FRY, 

TIMOTHY RICHARDSON, Selectmen. 

"Liid out a R;)il 3 rods wide, be-iinninp; at the Common 
Lmd near th<> Meetin"' House, then h-iding Easterly thro the 
Minister's Lot by m irke:l trees, so on Eistwardly on land of 
Cde!) D.ina, E>i., by m irked trees to land of (lad Peiree, so 
on Slid Peiree's Im.l by marke 1 trees to the line of Zel)ulon 
Peiree's luid, and (lid Peiree's lmd, then half the Ro id on 
Zebulon's and h vlf on (lid Peiree's land by marked trees to 
Lieut. Wheeler's Lmd, so on to land of Jonas Allen's by marked 
trees, South of siid Allen's Dwelling House, so on by marked 
trees thro Mr. Allen's land and Nathan Cuttin<j;'s. 
Feb. 8, 1766 per 

TIMO. RICHARDSON, 
JOHN FRY. Selectmen. 

Accepted by the town at their annual meeting, March 3d, 
1766." 

Town Meeting, Oct. 19, 1772. "Voted that those persons 
that have not worked out their highway Rates, shall work with 
others employed to fill the middle work in the County Bridge 
and be a lowed 3 yistareens per day, and two shillings per day 
for a pair of Oxen." 

Town Meeting, May 1, 1780. "Voted to allow Twenty-five 
dyl'ars p^r diy per man to work on the Roads the present year 
and for Oxen and Cart in that proportion as usual." 

DAY OF FASTING AND PRAYER 

In the Warrant for a Town Meeting held Sept. 15, 1766, 
Article 3, was, "To see if the Town will agree upon and appoint 
a day to keep by the Inhabitants of said Town in Fasting and 
Praysr to Almighty God for His blessing on us in bringing for- 
ward this new Town and in Special in settling and gathering a 
C'aurch in this Town, and dae time give us a Pastor after His 
own heart: — and to choose a committee to ask the assistance 
aforesaid of the neighboring churches." 



TOWN MEETINGS 17 

Under this article it was voted: "To call a day. Fast the 
fourth Thursday of October next: — and to send Rev. Mr. Hall, 
Mr. Hedge, Mr. Swift, Mr. Hubbard, Mr. Stimson, one dele- 
gate each. Chose Capt. Fry, Nathan Goddard, Capt. Peirce 
Committee for said affairs." 

May 7, 1770. "Voted to give liberty to Abiel Richardson 
and others to build a "Stnall house^' near the Meeting House 
for "Sabboih Noons." 

]May 27, 1776. "Voted to raise 20 pounds to defray town 
charges and buy ainmunition." 

All the Town Meetings for several years were called in "His 
Majesty's Name" until Sept. 29. 1776, when the call for a town 
meeting is announced as follows: 

"Worcester — SS. To Benjamin Hutchinson, one of the Con- 
staliles of Royalston, Greeting. 

In the name of the Government., and People of the State of 
Massachusetts Bay in Neio England, — You are hereby requested 
to warn the inhaljitants of the Town of Royalston, ciualified 
to vote in town affairs to meet at the Meeting House in said 
Royalston on Monday, the 29th day of September current, at 
2 o'clock p. m. then and there to act on the following Articles, viz : 

Art. 2. "To see if it be the mind of the Town that the 
General Court of this State form a Government for the State, 
and establish the same." Under this article it was "Voted 
that it be the mind of the Inhabitants of said Town, that the 
General Court form a plan of Government for said State, and lay 
the same before the People of said State at large, for their con- 
sideration and if approved by said people then to be 
established by the authority of said State." 

Evidently the voters of Royalston had a mind of their 
own as to the Constitution of the Government they were to 
live under, for at a Town Meeting held April 9, 1778, they 
"Voted not to approve of said Constitution as it now stands: 
Voted to approve of it in part. Then Voted to choose a Com- 
mittee of seven men to make such Remarks and such alterations 
on such articles in said Constitution as are disapproved, and 
such as are approved for the information of the General Court. 
Chose Capt. Batcheller, Mr. Lee, Lieut. Sibley, Mr. Richard- 
son, Henry Bond, Simeon Morey and William Dike said Com- 
mittee." 



2S HISTORY OF ROYAI.STON •-- 

"Voted to adjourn the meeting to the last Wednseday in 
May current at 2 o'clock p. m. Then met agreeable to adjourn- 
ment and heard the form of Government by the Committee 
above said, read over and over again and voted unanimously to 
approve of the sam(\ Number of voters, 75." 

Those were th(^ days when the voters in town meeting also 
decided in regard to church affairs, such as the erection of church 
buildings, the hiring of ministers, and paying their salaries, etc. 

At a town meeting held June 14, 1778, the following votes 
were passed. "Voted to build the stairs insitle the Meeting 
House;" "Voted that the Committee build four seats round 
the galleries;" "Voted that the Committc^e sell room for a single 
Pew all round the back side of the Galleries, to the highest bid- 
der at a vendue to help finish the seats in the Meeting House;" 
"Voted that the front gallery be divided — two thirds for the men 
to sit in and o»f-third for the women to sit in;" "Voted that 
the men sit in the Mens Gallery and the women sit in the 
Womatis side;" "Voted that the Committee build the stairs and 
seats as soon as convenient may be." 

Town Meeting, March 25, 1779. Under Article 2. "Voted 
by the town they were willing to make the Rev. Mr. Lee's 
salary good. Then voted to desire the Inhabitants of Royalston 
to pay Mr. Lee's salary in the articles of Life or money, equal 
to silver, or to Mr. Lee's acceptance." 

The first place for holding the town meetings as in nearly all 
of our old New England towns, was at the Meeting House, which 
was usually the first public building erected. All of the Royal 
ston town meetings were held in the Meeting House on the Com - 
mon until the church people decided to demolish their structure 
and erect a better building on a different site, which was where 
the present church building stands. This was done in 1840, and 
the last town meeting held in the Meeting House was on April 
6, 1840. The town meeting of the October following was held 
in the school house, and on Nov. 21, 1840, the town voted for 
the first time to build a Town House. It was Iniilt in 1841 and was 
a low one-story building located just south of where the present 
parsonage of the First Congregational Church stands, and was 
in close proximity to the old tavern where the weary voters 
after their exciting discussions over town affairs could adjourn 
to quench their thirst and gain new strength for the combat. 




WEST SIDE OF COMMON 
Showing First Congregational Church and Town Hall 




TOWN HALL, BUILT IN 1867 



TOWN MEETINGS 19 

This building; which for twenty-five years had served the 
town for its Town House, which had been the scene of many 
excitinji; discussions, and had echoed to the fiery eloquence of 
the town meeting orators on many memorable occasions, had 
become^ inadequate to accommodate the voters, and we find 
in the Warrant for a Town Meeting to be held April 23, 1866, 
an Article, "To see if the town will build a new ToiLm House 
and ajipropriate money for the same, or act thereon." Under 
this article it was "Voted to Iniild a new Toivn House and chose 
Chauncey Chase, John King, Daniel Davis, Jos. L. Perkins, 
B. H. Brown, Luther Harrington and Russell Morse, Jr., a 
Committee to report a plan or plans, location, specifications, 
expenditures, etc., for said Town House, suljject to the action 
of the town at an adjourned meeting. Voted also the above 
named persons be the Building Committee. At the adjourned 
meeting held May 30, 1866, the report of this Committee was 
heard and accepted and their plan adopted, and it was voted 
that the Treasurer be authorized to borrow from time to time 
such sums of money as the l)uilding committee may require, 
the whole amount not to exceed Six Thousand dollars, and 
Barnet Bullock was made an agent for the town to purchase 
the land for said Town House, and take the deed thereof for 
the town, and it was also voted that the Town House be com- 
pleted by the first day of October, 1867. June 7, 1866, it was 
"Voted to appropriate all the available materials of the old 
Town House in the erection of the new," and on June 27, 1867, 
it was voted to accept the alterations in the construction of 
the New Town House in having seven Dormer Windows. 

The first town meeting in the new Toivn Hall was held 
Dec. 17, 1867, and served the purpose of a dedication and open- 
ing to the public. The only Imsiness transacted being to hear 
the report of the Building Committee, the Memorial Tablet 
Committee, and to adopt Resolutions. George Peirce served 
as Moderator. The Building Committee presented the follow- 
ing Report; "The Committee chosen to construct and build a 
Town House for the Town of Royalston, have attended to that 
duty. One of their number, and the one with whom I was 
most intimately connected, has fallen by my side; and we mourn 
his loss, and tender our sympathies to the Bereavedoi:— such men 
as Russell Morse, Jr., the Town of Royalston have none to 
spare. 



20 HISTORY OK ROYALSTON 

Sir — It Ims l)(>(Mi our aim to expend just as little as necessity 
and the tastes of the people would allow; antl facts have proved 
that we failed to appreciate the jronerosity of the people— and 
the town very appropriately ,ti;ranted to us that which we never 
asked of them; namely the privilege of putting in the Dormer 
Wiudoirs the (>xpens(> of which this Rei)ort covers. Tinu^ will 
not allow us to fi'o into detail, to report the expenses, but we will 
here say that \\c have vouckcn^ for every cent we have expended 
on file, which will be at your disposal. The whole amount 
<rrant(Ml ])y the Town subject to our disposal was Nine Thous, 
and Dollars. The whole amount expended by them is $8,999.97, 
leaving a balance in the Treasury of three cents. All of which 
we most respectfully submit. 

JOSEPH L. PElUvINS, for the Committee. 

A Committee of three was chosen to draft Resolutions with 
reference to certain Gifts presented to the Town. That Com- 
mittee consisting of Rev. E. W. Bullard, William D. Ripley and 
Dr. H. T. Hanks, presented the following Report: 

Whereas the Town, for the purpose of dedicating and open- 
ing for public use the New Town Hall, find the same highly 
satisfactory and honorable, alike to the Gentlemen who de- 
signed and built it, to the Building Committee and to the Town; 
and whereas, it is also found that sundry of our fellow citizens 
have contributed by special Gifts, and Monies, to the adorn- 
ment, comfort and convenience of this House. 

Therefore. Resolved I. That we tender to Mr. Chatincey 
Chase, the architect and contractor, sentiments of appreciation 
and congratulation for his skill, taste and thoroughness in 
planning and constructing this commodious edifice. 

Resolved II. That we convey to the Genttenien of the Build- 
ing Committee, our thanks for the public spirit and liberality 
with which they have discharged their responsil)le duties. 

Resolved III. That we gratefully record the generosity of 
our fellow Citizen, Mr. Joseph Raymond, in assuming, by per- 
mission of the Town, the entire expense of procuring and plac- 
ing in this Hall the four Memorial Tablets in commemoration 
of our sons and brothers, who fell in the defence of the National 
integrity and life during our Conflict with the late Rebellion — 
for his interest and labors as a member of the Memorial Corn- 



TOWN MEETINGS 21 

mittee in getting up these appropriate and elegant Marbles; 
and now for the terms in which he has asked the Town to allow 
him the privilege and the honor of paying for them, we extend 
to Mr. Raymond our cordial thanks. 

Resolved IV. That we recognize the accustomed liberal- 
ity of Mv8. Emilij B. Ripley, and her interest in the enterprise 
of building this House, in the gift of the emblematical Vane 
which surmounts its Dome; and recjuest the Town Clerk to 
transmit to Mrs. Ripley a copy of this Resolution, with 
expressions of our consitleration and esteem. 

Resolved V. That we persent to Mr. George F. Miller 
our acknowledgements for the Clock donated by him for the 
use of this Hall. 

Resolved VI. That we notice thus pubhcly, and put upon 
our Records, expressions of obligations to those numerous friends 
and citizens, by whose hberal contributions this Hall has been 
tastefully Frescoed and provided with a Beautiful Chandelier ^ 
All which is respectfully submitted. 

REV. E. W. BULLARD, ) 

WILLIAM D. RIPLEY, ) Committee. 

DR. H. HANKS. ) 

The Worcester Daily Spy of Dec. 30, 18G7, reported the 
dedication of the Royalston Town Hall as follows: 



ROYALSTON FESTIVAL 

The new Town Hall at Royalston was dedicated on the 
17th with appropriate ceremonies. At two o'clock in the after- 
noon a formal town meeting was called at which the hall was 
accepted by the town. The building cost about ten thousand 
dollars. The main hall is on the first floor, which will be used 
for town purposes. On the second floor is the monumental 
hall upon the walls of which are tablets inscribed with the 
names of Royalston soldiers who fell in the army. The build- 
ing has a cupola surmounted by an eagle and as a whole is one 
of the most elegant public edifices in the county. The 
dedicatory address was given by Rev. A. E. Perkins of Ware, a 
native of Royalston, who was followed by Governor Bullock, also 
a native of Royalston. An evening entertainment of speaches, 
music, etc., closed the exercises. 



CHAPTER IV 

TOWN GOVERNMENT 

The principal officers in the Town Gov(>rnment that have 
come down through the years from the incorporation of the 
town to the present time are the Town Clerk, Town Treasurer, 
Board of Selectmen and Assessors. We give a list of the persons 
wlu) liave held these offices, and the years they served, also 
sketches of the incumbents of the offices for the year 1915. 

SELECTMEN 

1765 John Fry, Timothy Richardson, Benjamin Woodbury. 

1766 Timothy Richardson, Benjamin Woodbury, Nathan God- 

dard. 

1767 John Fry, Isaac Estey, Jonathan Sibley. 

1768 John Fry, Isaac Estey, Jonathan Sibley. 

1769 Benjamin Woodbury, Peter Woodbury, 

1770 Peter Woodbury, Silvanus Hemenway, Jonas Allen. 

1771 John Fry, Peter Woodbury, Silvanus Hemenway. 

1772 John Fry, Peter Woodburj', Silvanus Hemenway. 

1773 Timothy Richardson, Benjamin Woodbury, Peter Wood- 

bury. 
177-4 Timothy Richardson, Benjamin Woodbury, Benjamin 
Waite. 

1775 Timothy Richardson, Benjamin Woodbury, Benjamin 

Waite. 

1776 Timothy Richardson, Benjamin Woodbury, Benjamin 

Waite. 

1777 Benjamin Woodbury, Jonathan Sibley, Jonas Allen. 

1778 Benjamin Woodbury, Jonathan Sibley, Jonas Allen. 

1779 Silvanus Hemenway, Francis Chase, Pelatiah Metcalf. 

1780 John Fry, Peter Woodbury, Silvanus Hemenway, Jonas 

Allen, Benjamin Waite. 

1781 Benjamin Woodbury, Peter Woodbury, Francis Chase, 

Moulton Bullock, James Work. 



TOWN GOVERNMElN'r 23 

1782 Pelatiah Metcalf, John Orsboni, Jonas Thompson, 

Nathaniel Bragg. 

1783 Peter Woodbury, John Bacheller, Jacob Estey, Henry 

Bond, Silas Heywood. 

1784 Timothy Richardson, Peter Woodbury, Jacob Estey, 

Henry Bond, Oliver W^ork. 

1785 Timothy Richardson, Peter Woodbury, Jacol) Estey, 

Henry Bond, Oliver Work. 

1786 Peter Woodbury, Pelatiah Metcalf, John Orsborn, Jacob 

Estey. 

1787 Peter Woodlmry, Francis Chase, John Orsborn, John 

Peck. 

1788 Peter Woodbury, Francis Chase, Pelatiah Metcalf, 

Oliver Work. 

1789 Peter Woodbury, Silvanus Hemenway, Francis Chase, 

Oliver Work. 

1790 Silvanus Hemenway, Pelatiah Metcalf, John Bacheller, 

Oliver Work. 

1791 John Fry, Peter Woodbury, Silvanus Hemenway, Pela- 

tiah Metcalf, Samuel Goddard. 

1792 John Orsborn, John Bacheller, Jacob Estey, Silas Hey- 

wood, Isaac Gregor5^ 
J793 John Bacheller, Isaac Gregory, Shubel Blanding, Ebene- 
zer Fry, John Norton. 

1794 Peter Woodlniry, Jacob Estey, Shubel Blanding, Ebene- 

zer Fry, John Norton, 

1795 Isaac Gregory, Nathan Bullock, Ebenezer Fry, John 

Norton, Daniel W^oodbury. 

1796 Isaac Gregory, Ebenezer Fry, John Norton, Daniel 

Woodbury, James Forbes. 

1797 Isaac Gregory, Ebenezer Fry, John Norton, James 

Forbes, John Stockwell. 

1798 Ebenezer Fry, John Norton, Daniel Woodbury, Ammi 

Falkner. 

1799 Isaac Gregory, Ebenezer Fry, John Norton, Daniel 

Woodbury. 
J 800 Isaac Gregory, John Norton, Daniel Woodbury, Eben^' 
zer Blanding, Squier Davis, 

1801 Samuel Goddard, John Norton, Squier Davis, 

1802 Samuel Goddard, John Norton, Squier Davis. 



24 HISTORY OF ROYALSTOX 

1803 John Norton, Squier Davis, Joseph Estabrook. 

1804 Joseph Estabrook, Joseph Jacobs. 

1805 Ebenezer Fry, Joseph Estabrook, Joseph Jacol)s. 

1806 Isaac Gregory, Ebenezer Fry, Joseph Jacobs. 

1807 Stephen Bacheller, Jr., Levi Thurston, Amos Jones, Jr. 

1808 Ebenezer Fry, Joseph Estabrook, Jonathan Gale. 

1809 John Norton, Joseph Estabrook, Jonathan Gale. 

1810 John Norton, Squier Davis, Joseph Estabrook, Stephen 

Bacheller, Jr., Jonathan Gale. 

1811 John Norton, Squier Davis, Rufus Bullock. 

1812 Squier Davis, Rufus Bullock, Thomas Richardson. 

1813 John Norton, Squier Davis, Rufus Bullock. 

1814 John Norton, Daniel Woodbury, Squier Davis, kmo< 

Jones, Jr., John Holman. 

1815 John Norton, Squier Davis, David Fisher. 

1816 John Norton, Squier Davis, Joseph Estabrook. 

1817 John Norton, Squier Davis, Nathan B. Newton, Asahel 

Davis, Asa Bacheller. 

1818 Daniel Woodbury, Squier Davis, John Holman. 

1819 Daniel Woodbury, Squier Davis, John Holman. 

1820 Daniel Woodbury, Squier Davis, John Holman. 

1821 Squier Davis, Asa Bacheller, Benjamin Brown. 

1822 Squier Davis, Asa Bacheller, Benjamin Brown. 

1823 Squier Davis, Asa Bacheller, Benjamin Brown. 

1824 Squier Davis, William Peirce, Silas Jones, Russell Morse. 

1825 Squier Davis, Silas Jones, Russell Morse. 

1826 Squier Davis, Silas Jones, Russell [Morse. 

1827 Asahel Davis, Silas Jones Russell [Morse. 

1828 Asahel Davis, Silas Jones, Russell Morse. 

1829 Squier Davis, Benjamin Brown Stephen Richardson. 

1830 Benjamin Brown, Stephen Richardson, Salmon Goddard 

1831 Asahel Davis, Silas Jones, Robert Thompson. 

1832 Asahel Davis, Silas Jones, Robert Thompson. 

1833 Asahel Davis, Silas Jones, Robert Thompson. 

1834 Silas Jones, Robert Thompson, Joseph Davis, 2d. 

1835 Silas Jones, Joseph Davis, 2d, Joseph Stockwell. 

1836 Benjamin Brown, Robert Thompson, Benoni Peck. 

1837 Russell Morse, Benoni Peck, Arba Sherwin. 

1838 Silas Jones, Russell Morse, Benoni Peck. 

1839 Silas Jones, Russell Morse, Benoni Peck. 



TOWN GOVERNMKNT 25 

1840 Russell Morse, Benoni Peck, Barnet Bullock. 

1841 Elmer Newton, Ebenezer Pierce, Hiram W. Albee. 

1842 Ebenezer Pierce, Hiram W. Albee, Benjamin Fry. 

1843 Benjamin Fry, Benoni Peck, Otis Gale. 

1844 Barnet Bullock, Daniel Bliss, Otis Gale. 

1845 Barnet Bullock, Cyrus Davis, Otis Gale. 

1846 Stephen Richardson, Otis Gale, Adriei White. 

1847 Hiram W. Albee, Joseph Raymond, Jarvis Davis. 

1848 Hiram W. Albee, Joseph Raymond, Jarvis Davis. 

1849 Joseph Raymond, Tarrant Cutler, Solyman Heywood 

1850 Joseph Raymond, Jarvis Davis, Jesse F. Wheeler. 

1851 Benjamin Fry, Jarvis Davis, Jesse F. Wheeler. 

1852 Benjamin Fry, Otis Bemis, Daniel Davis. 

1853 Joseph Raymond, Otis Bemis. 

1854 Joseph Raymond, Jarvis Davis, Nahum Longley. 
ISJj Alriel W-iite, Isiic Nichols, Lemuel i'^de^. 

1855 Lemuel Fales, Cyrus B. Reed, George Whitney. 

1857 Joseph Raymond, L. W. Partridge, Harvey W. Bhss 

1858 Otis Gale, Joseph Raymond, Caleb A. Cook. 

1859 Nahum Longley, Caleb A. Cook, Wilham W. Clement. 

1860 Nahum Longley, Caleb A. Cook, Wilham W. Clement. 

1861 Cyrus B. Reed, Richard Baker, WllUam W. Clement. 

1862 Cyrus B. Reed, Richard Baker, William W. Clement. 

1863 Wilham W. Clement, J. A. Rich, Hiram Harrington. 

1864 William W. Clement, J. A. Rich, Hiram Harrington. 

1865 Wilham W. Clement, J. A. Rich, Hiram Harrington. 

1866 Daniel Davis, Edmund Stockwell, Benjamin H. Brown. 

1867 DanielDavis, Edmund Stockwell, B. H. Brown. 

1868 Daniel Davis, Edmund Stockwell, B. H. Brown, 

1869 Josepeh Raymond, Jonas Turner, B. H. Brown. 

1870 Daniel Davis, B. W. Rich, C. J. Piper. 

1871 Daniel Davis, B. W. Rich, Wilham W. Clement. 

1872 Wilham W. Clement, B. B. Murdock, E. T. Warner. 

1873 William W. Clement, C. W. Day, E. T. Warner. 

1874 Wilham W. Clement, C. W. Day, Lyman Stone, 

1875 WiUiam W, Clement, C. W, Day, J. N, Bartlett, 

1876 C. W. Day, John N. Bartlett, Joseph Walker. 

1877 A. D. Raymond, A. A. Hyatt, A. M. White. 

1878 John N. Bartlett, Joseph T. Nichols, Asaph M. W^hite. 

1879 Joseph T. Nichols, Caleb W. Day, Asaph M, White. 



2(5 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

1880 Joseph T. Nichols, Caleb W. Day, Asaph M. White. 

1881 Joseph T. Nichols, Caleb W. Day, Asaph M. White. 

1882 Joseph T. Nichols, Benjamin W. Rich, Asaph M. White. 

1883 Joseph Walker, B. W. Rich, Asaph M. White. 

1884 Joseph Walker, B. W. Rich, Asaph M. White. 

1885 Joseph Walker, Benjamin W. Rich, Asaph M. White. 

1886 Joseph Walker, Jeremiah A. Rich, Asaph M. White. 

1887 Joseph Walker, John R. Hale, Asaph M. White.. 

1888 Joseph T. Nichols, John R. Hale, Asaph M. White. 

1889 Joseph T. Nichols, John R. Hale, William H. Leathe. 

1890 Joseph T. Nichols, John R. Hale, C. C. Chapin. 

1891 Joseph T. Nichols, John R. Hale, C. C. Chapin. 

1892 Cohn Mackenzie, S. B. Forristall, J. S. Moore. 

1893 Cohn Mackenzie, S. B. Forristall, J. S. ]\Ioore. 

1894 Alfred D. Raymond, Jeremiah A. Rich, Phinehas S. 

Newton. 

1895 Alfred D. Raymond, Jeremiah A. Rich, Luke B. Shep- 

ardson. 

1896 M. W. White, J. R. Hale, Luke B. Shepardson. 

1897 M. W. White, B. Warren Rich, M. W. Sherwood. 

1898 Phinehas S. Newton, B. Warren Rich, M. W. Sherwood. 

1899 Phinehas S. Newton, B. Warren Rich, Luke B. Shep- 

ardson, 

1900 M. W. White, S. B. Forristall, Luke B. Shepardson. 

1901 M. W. White, S. B. Forristall, Luke B. Shepartlson. 

1902 M. W. White, S. B. Forristall, Luke B. Shepardson. 

1903 M. W. White, S. B. Forristall, Luke B. Shepardson. 

1904 M. W. White, Walter N. Farrar, Luke B. Shepardson. 

1905 Walter N. Farrar, Luke B. Shepardson, M. W. White. 

1906 Luke B. Shepardson, Millard W. White, Walter N. 

Farrar. 

1907 Charles H. Brown, Walter N. Farrar, Luke B. Shepard- 

son. 

1908 Charles H. Brown, Walter N. Farrar, Luke B. Shepard- 

son. 

1909 Charles H. Brown, S. B. Forristall, Luke B. Shepardson. 

1910 Charles H. Brown, S. B. Forristall, Luke B. Shepardson, 

1911 Charles H. Brown, S. B. Forristall, Luke B. Shepardson, 

1912 Charles H. Brown, Charles H. Brooks, Luke B. Shep- 

ardson. 




BOARD OF SELECTMEN, 1914 

CHARLES H. BROWN CHARLES H. BROOKS 

LUKE B. SHEPARDSON 



TOWN GOVKRNMENT 27 

1913 Charles H. Brown, Charles H. Brooks, Luke B. 8hep- 



son. 



1914 Charles H. Brown, Charles H. Brooks, Luke B. Shep- 

ardson. 

1915 Charles H. Brown, Luke B. Shepardson, Alfred W. Neal. 

Charles H. Brown, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, 
was born in Royalston Feb. 3, 1865, son of Benjamin H. and 
Nancy L. (Wood) Brown. His education was obtained in the 
public schools of Royalston, all at the old North East District 
school, with the exception of two terms at the Center school. 
After nine years of age he attended school only a part of the 
fall and winter terms, the remainder of his time until seventeen 
years of age being spent in doing farm work. He then left home 
and went to Boston where he was employed in driving a whole- 
sale bakery team, getting up at three o'clock each morning for 
three years, when he went to Worcester and was employed as 
clerk in one of the largest grocery stores in the city for seven 
years, after which he went into business for himself with a part- 
ner. At the end of two years he sold out his interest and opened 
a general notion store which he carried on for three years. 

In 1893 he returned to Royalston where he has ever since 
been engaged in farming, nearly all the time on what is known 
as the Raymond farm in the north part of the town. He owns 
the old ancestral homestead where he was boni, which has been 
in possession of the Brown family for several generations, 

Since his return to his native town he has been prominent 
In town affairs and actively interested in the social, educational 
and political life of the community. In 1900 he was elected a 
member of the School Committee and served as chairman for 
seven years, when in 1907, he resigned having two more years 
to serve. That year he was elected a member of the Board 
of Selectmen and has been re-elected at the expiration of every 
terra of office to the present tims, and has been chairman of 
th3 boxrd the entire tira3. He is a member of the Finance 
Committee of the town and of the committee to draft town 
by-laws, and has also served on other important committees. 
He is a member of Royalston grange of which he has been Master, 
Overseer, Secretary, Treasurer and a member of the executive 
committee. He is also a irjember of Athol Lodge of Masons. 



2S HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

He was for many years a leading Repul)liean and served as 
delegate to many of the party conventions and was for fourteen 
years a member of the Republican Town Committee, being most 
of the time secretary and was for two years chairman. He re- 
signed from the Committee in 1912 and was elected a member 
of the Progressive Town Committee of which he has since served 
as clriirmin. For the last three years he has been President 
of the Royalston Old Home Week Association. 

On September 25, 1888 he was married to Miss Annie E. 
Rowe of Boston. They have three sons and two daughters, 
all of whom are living at home except one. 

Litfcs B. Shapardsjn, a prominent town officer for more 
than twenty years, and one of the present Board of Selectmen, 
is a son of Eri and Elvira (Bemis) Shepardson and was born 
at the old Shepardson homestead Sept. 9, 1851. His education 
was obtained in the old No. 8 District School of Royalston, after 
which he settled on the old farm where he was born, and has 
ever since been engaged in teaming and lumbering in connection 
with his farming operations. 

At the age of fourteen years he united with the West Royal- 
ston Baptist Church and in 18 — ^was elected as Deacon, which 
office he has held ever since He also served as Superintendent of 
the Sunday school for several years and has been on important 
committees of the church. At the age of twenty-one he joined 
the Masonic fraternity and has ever since been a member in 
good standing. He has been a member of the Board of Select- 
men for sixteen years, and one of the Road Surveyors for more 
than twenty years, and has served the town on important 
committees. 

He married Ellen L. Tandy, daughter of Rev. Lorenzo and 
Lucy Tandy, June 23, 1875. They have five children: Florence 
E., born Aug. 18, 1876, she graduated from Smith College in 
19DS, and after teaching in High Schools for several years married 
Edward Taggard of Portersville, Cal., where they now make 
their home; John, born Sept. 15, 1877, lives at home on the farm 
and is engaged in farm work and teaming; Bertha M., born 
Oct. 27, 1879, graduated fom the Athol High School, and 
married George E. Fairbanks Dec. 25, 1901, they have three, 
children and are now living in Fitzwilliam, N. H.; Carl W., 



TOWN GOVERNMENT 29 

born Dec. 5, 1S85, fiTiiduated from Brown University, and from 
June, 1909, until May, 1912, was a teacher in the Government 
schools in the Philippines, and since then has been a teacher in 
New Hampshire and Massachusetts; Lucy, born Sept. 21, 1889, 
attended Smith College, but did not graduate, leaving the College 
in her third year, her motluu-'s health being such that she was 
n'j ded at home. 

Alfred W infield Neale was born in West Brookfield in 1862. 
His father was born in Towl^ridge, England hi 1828, and his 
mother in this country in 1820. He attended school in No. 9 
district of Royalston, and has followed the occupation of farming. 
He was on the board of assessors for several years,' was one of 
the Overseers of the Poor two years, and has been tax collector 
for several years holding the office at the present time. He 
married Eleanor I\I. Stockwell of Hoyalston in 1890. She died 
in February 1903. He married (2) Bertha Frumerin of Brockton, 
Mass. They have three children: Alfred Wesley, born Nov. 18, 
1904, Theodore Winfield, born Nov. 4, 1908, and Winston Geddes, 
born Aug. 17, 1913. Mr. Neale is a member of the Board of 
Selectmen, having l)een elected in March 1915. 



ASSESSORS 

The first board of Assessors was chosen in 1766 and consisted 
of John Fry, William Town and Jonas Allen. 

Some years the Board of Selectmen have been the Assessors. 
The Assessors serving when tliere has been a separate board 
are as follows : 
1773 Henry Bond, Benjamin Wait, Stephen Bachel er. 

1775 Peter Woodbury, David Lyon, John Peck. 

1776 Willam Town, Peter Woodbury, John Peck. 

1777 William Town, David Copeland, William Clement. 

1778 Henry Bond, John Fry, Peletiah Metcalf. 

1779 Timothy Bliss, John Bacheller, Isaac Gale. 

1780 William Town, John Peck, John Bacheller. 

1781 Henry Bond, Oliver Work, Ebenezer Blanding. 

1782 William Clement, Oliver Work, Joseph Emerson. 

1783 Oliver Work, Samuel Goddard, Ammi Falkner. 



JO HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

1784 Ilrniy Bond. OliYor Work, .Jacob Estey. 

1785 Henry Bond. OHyci' Work, Jacob Estey. 
1781) Ammi Falkner, Paul Ellis, Daniel Woodbury. 

1787 Aninii Falkner, Paul Ellis, Daniel Woodbury. 

1788 Aninii 1-^alkner, Paul Ellis, Isaac Gregory. 
17S!) Ammi Falkner, Paul Ellis, Isaac Greo-ory. 
17')() Joseph Emerson, Paul Ellis, Isaac Gregory. 
17'.»1 <)liv(n- Work, Ammi Falkner, Paul Ellis. 

1792 Ammi Falkner, Isaac Gregory. 

1793 Ammi Falkner, Paul Ellis, Isaac Gregory. 

1794 Peter Woodbury, Peletiah Metcaif, Joseph Emerson. 

1795 Paul Ellis, Isaac Gregory, Eliphalet Cheney. 

1796 Paul Ellis, Eliphalet Cheney, David Fisher. 

1797 Ammi Falkner, Paul Ellis, David Fisher. 

1798 Ammi Falkner, Paul Ellis, Isaac Gregory. 

1799 Daniel Woodbury, Isaac Gregory, John Norton. 

1800 Ammi Falkner, Isaac Gregory, Salmon Goddard. 

1801 John Norton, Salmon Goddard. 

1802 Ammi Falkn(>r, Isaac Gregory, Salmon Goddard. 

1803 Ebenezer Blanding, Ammi Falkner, Isaac Gregory. 
1801 Elx'uezer Blanding, Ammi Falkner, Amos Jones, Jr, 
1805 Ammi Falkner, Isaac Gregory, Salmon Goddard. 
1805 Ammi Falkner, Salmon Goddard, Amos Jones, Jr. 

1807 Ammi Falkner, Amos Jones, Jr., Rufus Bullock. 

1808 Ammi Falkner, Amos Jones, Jr., Isaac Metcaif. 

1809 Ammi Falkner, Amos Jones, Jr., Isaac Metcaif. 

1810 Ammi Falkner, Salmon Goddard, Isaac Metcaif. 

1813 David Fisher, Amos Jones, Jr., Hufus Bullock. 

1814 Daniel Woodbury, David Fisher, Amos Jones, Jr. 

1815 Daniel Woodbury, David Fisher, Tarrant Cutler. 

1816 Daniel Woodbury, David Fisher, Tarrant Cutler. 

1817 David Fisher, Silas Heywood, Tarrant Cutler. 

1820 Daniel Woodbury, Benoni Peck, Silas Jones. 

1821 Rufus Bullock, Tarrant Cutler, Asahel Davis. 

1822 Rufus Bullock, Tarrant Cutler, Asahel Davis. 

1823 Tarrant Cutler, Asahel Davis, Jonathan Peirce. 

1824 Tarrant Cutler, Asahel Davis, Jonathan Peirce, 

1825 Rufus Bullock, Asahel Davis, Benjamin Brown. 

1826 Rufus Bullock, Asahel Davis, Stephen Richardson. 

1827 Tarrant Cutler, Benoni Peck, Jonathan Peirce. 



TOWN GOVERNMENT Jl 

1828 Tarrant Cutler, Asahel Davis, Jonathan Peirce. 

1829 Tarrant Cutler, Asahel Davis, Jonathan Peirce. 

1830 Benoni Peck, Silas Jones, Jonathan Gale. 

1831 Silas Jones, Asahel Davis, Jonathan Peirce. 

1832 Silas Jones, Asahel Davis, Russe 1 Morse. 

1833 Silas Jones, Asahel Davis, Russell Morse. 

1834 Silas Jones, Joseph Davis, 2d., Russell Morse. 

1835 Silas Jones, Joseph Davis, 2d., Russell Morse. 
183() Benoni Peck, Silas Jones, Russell Morse. 
1837 Salmon Ooddard, Russell Morse. 

1840 Benoni Peck, Russell Morse, Joseph Estabrook. 

1841 Arba Sherwin, Joseph Estabrook, Jarvis Davis, Luther 

Harr'ngton. 

1842 Peter Woodbury, Tarrant Cutler, Adriel White. 

1844 Tarrant Cutler, Adriel White, George Peirce. 

1845 Tarrant Cutler, Adriel White, George Peirce. 

1846 Adriel White, George Peirce. 

1850 Jarvis Davis, George Peirce, Otis Gale. 

1852 Benjamin Fry, Otis Bemis, Daniel Davis. 

1855 Jarvis Davis, Franklin Richardson, Lemuel Fales. 

1857 Joseph Raymond, L. W. Partridge, Henry W. Bliss. 

1858 Joseph Raj-mond, Henry W. Bliss, Jesse W. Wheeler. 

1860 Tarrant Cutler, Elisha F. Brown, Joseph L. Perkins. 

1861 William W. Clement, Richard Baker, Cyrus B. Reed. 

1862 William W. Clement, Richard Baker, Cyrus B. Reed. 

1863 William W. Clement, J. A. Rich, Hiram Harrington. 

1864 WilUam W. Clement, J. A. Rich, Hiram Harrington. 

1865 William W. Clement, J. A. Rich, Hiram Harrington. 

1866 Daniel Davis, Edmund Stockwell, Benjamin H. Brown. 

1867 Obadiah Walker, Edmund Stockwell, Cyrus B. Reed. 

1868 Daniel Davis, Edmund Stockwell, B. H. Brown. 

1869 Joseph Raymond, Tarrant Cutler, Jonas Turner 

1870 J. L. Perkins, Jesse F. Wheeler, Henry Nichols. 

1871 Daniel Davis, B. W. Rich, William W. Clement. 

1872 William W. Clement, B. B. Murdock, E. T. Warner. 

1873 WilHam W\ Clement, C. W. Day, E. T. Warner. 

1874 William W. Clement, C. W. Day, Lyman Stone. 

1875 W lliam W. Clement, C. W. Day, J. N. Bartlett. 

1876 C. W. Day, John N. Bartlett, Joseph Walker. 

1877 A. D. Raymond, A. A. Hyatt, A. M. White. 



J2 III STORY OK ROY ALSTON 

1878 John N. Bartlctt, Joseph T. Nichols, Astiph M. White. 

1871) Joseph T. Nichols, Caleb W. Day, Asiph M. White. 

1880 Joseph T. Nichols, Caleb W. Day, Asaph M. Wliite. 

1881 Joseph T. Nichols, Caleb W. Day, Asaph M. White. 

1882 Joseph T Nichols, Asaph M. White, B. W. Rich. 

1883 B. W. Rich, Asaph M. White, George E. Peirce. 

1884 Joseph Walker, B. W. Rich, Asaph M. White. 

1885 Alfred D. Raymond, John R Hale, William H Leathe 

1886 Alfred D. Raymond, Roby R. Safford, Asaph H. White. 

1887 Alfred D. Raymond, Asaph M. White, J. R. Hale. 

1888 Alfrefl D, Raymond, C-aleb W. Day, William H. Leathe. 

1889 Alfred D. Raymond, Caleb W. Day, William H. Leathe. 

1890 Alfred D. Raymond, Roby R. Safford, George E. Peirce. 

1891 Alfred D. Raymond, Caleb W. Day, George E. Peirce. 

1892 Alfred D. Raymond, Caleb W. Day, George E. Peirce. 

1893 Alfred 1. Raymond, William H. Leathe, Caleb W. Day. 

1894 Alfred D. Raymond, Jeremiah A. Rich, Phinehas S. 

Newton 

1893 George E. Peirce Jeremiah A Rich, Luke B. Shepardson. 

189(3 George E. Peirce, Jerem'ah A. Rich, Phinehas S. Newton. 

1897 George E. Peirce, Jeremiah A. Rich, Phinehas S. Newton. 

1898 William H. Leathe, Jeremiah A. Rich, John Davis. 

1899 George E. Peirce, Alfred W. Neal, John Davis. 

1909 George E. Peirce, Alfred W. Neal William H. Leathe. 

1901 George E. Peirce, Alfred W. Neal, Willam H. Leathe. 

1902 William H. Leathe, George E. Peirce, Alfred W. Neal. 

1903 William H. Leathe, Levens G Forbes Charles H. Brooks. 
1901 William H. Leathe, Charles H. Brooks, Levens G. Forbes. 
1905 William H. Leathe, George E. Peirce, Charles H. Brooks. 
1903 William H. Leathe, George E. Peirce, Edward G. Beals. 

1907 George E. Peirce, Edward G. Beals, William H. Leathe. 

1908 George ,E Peirce, William H. Leathe, Alfred W Neal. 

1900 William H. Leathe, George E. Pierce, Eugene G. 

Twitchell. 

1910 George E. Peirce, William H. Leathe, Eugene G. 

Twitchell. 

1911 William H. Leathe, Eugene G. Twitchell, Levens G. 

Forbes. 

1912 William H. Leathe, Levens G. Forbes, Eugene G. 

Twitchell. 



TOWN GOVERNMENT 33 

1913 Levens G. Forbes, Eugene G. Twitchell, Myron E. 

Stockwell. 

1914 Eugene G. Twitchell, Myron E. Stockwell, Levens G. 

Forbes. 

1915 Myron E. Stockwell, Levens G. Forbes, Eugene G. 

Twitchell. 

Levens G. Forbes was born in Meriden, Conn., June 4, 1870. 
His father died when he was two years old, and he went to live 
with relatives in Branford, Conn., and came to Royalston in 
March 1878. He lived in the west part of the town and attended 
school at the City school. In December 1879 he went to live 
with E. V. Nelson in the east part of the town, and has lived in 
town ever since with the exception of two years in Orange. He 
was married Oct. 1, 1895 to Cora E. Howe, and they have two 
children, Mildred L , born in 1900 and Dorothy, born in 1907. 
He has been active in town affairs was elected as moderator 
of town meetings in 1900 and has held that position ever since. 
He was elected on the board of Assessors in 1903 and 1904, 
and has also served from 1911 to the present time, his term ex- 
piring in 1917. He was elected as one of the Selectmen in 1914 
but declined to serve. Was constable several years and has 
held most of the minor town offices, and has been Superintendent 
of the Improved Highway two years. He has been an Insurance 
Agent for 15 years, and is a charter member of Royalston grange. 

Myron E. Stockwell was born in Athol, Nov. 4, 1880. He 
was educated in the public schools of Royalston and graduated 
from Murdock school, Winchendon in 1899. He has held the 
office of Assessor for three years, and has served several times 
as a Highway Surveyor. He is a member of Narragansett Lodge 
of Odd Fellows of Baldwinville and Royalston grange of which 
he is Secretary. He married Iva Belle Bryant, April 21, 1909 
and has one son, Mahlon Joseph, born March 12, 1915. 

Eugene G. Twitchell, who has been a member of the Board 
of Assessors for the last seven years commencing with 1909 
was born in Athol Jan. 22, 1867, and has lived in the town of 
Royalston twenty-three years. He married Nettie S. Clark 
of Royalston. 

They have one daughter, Eliza E., ten years of age. 



J^ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Joseph R. Eaton, town auditor in his report for the year 
1866 says: "The Assessors' books are not without their lessons. 
The decrease in agricultural products within the last forty years 
is remarkable, though not more so in this town than in country 
towns in general in New England. In 1828 the assessors reported 
448 oxen, (Hon. Joseph Estabrook owning 139); 861 cows and 
three years old, and 264 swine. Last year (1865) the assessors 
found only 188 oxen, 557 cows and three years old, and 113 
swine. From the Assessors' books of the last forty years, it is 
not difficult to learn, very nearly, the general rate of productive- 
ness of capital when invested in farming — in manufacturing — and 
in interest bearing securities. In fact I had prepared a paragraph 
on this subject, but as wise counselors advise its suppression, 
I am thrown somewhat on to the position of Dr. Holmes, the 
poet, who "never dares to write as funny as he can." I will, 
however, venture to say that whoever estabhshes a profitable 
manufacture in town should be considered a public benefactor." 

Interesting facts gleaned from the Assessors' Reports covering 
the last fifty-five years. 

1860 

Valuation of Real Estate, $514,913. 
Valuation of Personal Estate, 305,072. 



Total Valuation $819,985. 

Whole number of acres from the survey 
of 1831 including the additions since, 
26,882. 

Number of polls, 377 

Horses, 201 

Oxen, 238 

Cows, steers and heifers, 1293 

Sheep, 239 

Swine, 120 

Largest tax payers: A. H. Bullock, trustee for Mrs. E. B. 
Ripley, $223,67; Barnet Bullock, $142.56; George Whitney, 
$102.51; Joseph Raymond, $95.64; Joseph Estabrook, $93.32; 
John Whitmore, $86.08; Elmer Newton, $65.94; Salmon S. 
Farrar, $64.92; Silas Stone, $60.44; Orrin Thompson, $58.19. 



TOWN GOVERNMENT 35 

1875 

Valuation of Real Estate, ^83,045. 

Valuation of Personal Estate, 206 061. 



Total Valuation, $689,106. 

Number of polls, 358 

Horses, 224 

Cows, 410 

Sheep, 176 

Dwelling Houses, 280 

Largest tax payers: George Whitney Factory, $660.63; 
Mrs. D. P. Clark, $374.38; George Whitney $196.72; Joseph 
Raymond, S167.04; Joseph Estabrook, $163.10; Elmer Newton, 
$151.44; Salmon S. Farrar, $133.79; Mrs. E. B. Ripley, $111.07; 
First Parish, $94.38; Caleb W. Day, $86.10; Phinehas S. Newton, 
$74.37; John W. Hale, $86.41; George Chase, $74.30; Aaron 
Jones, $71.10; Barnet Bullock, .$83.69; A. D. Raymond, $64.41; 
Jesse F. Wheeler, $63.79; Mrs. Mary E. Bullock, $63.75; George 
Pierce, $61.79; Edmund Stockwell, $61.54. The rate of taxation 
was $12.50 per $1000. 



1885 

Valuation of Real Estate, $503,670. 

Valuation of Personal Estate, 158,665. 



Total valuation $662,335. 

Number of polls, 340 

Horses, 226 

Cows, 471 

Sheep, 189 
Cattle other than cows, 290 

Swine, 132 

Dwelling Houses, 271 

Largest tax payers: George Whitney Factory Property, 
$323.05; Mrs. D. P. Clark Estate, $175; George Whitney, $118.44; 
Estate of Harriet M. Estabrook, $110.53; Caleb W. Day, $66.09; 
Mrs. Henrietta Nutting, $64.75; Phinehas S Newton, $58.53; 
Lyman L. Clark Co., $53.37; Rate of taxation $7 per $1000. 



J^ HISTORV OF ROYALSTON 

1890 

Valuation of Real Estate, $443,058, 

Valuation of Personal Estate, 147.105. 



Total valuation, $590,163 

Number of polls, 335 

Horses, 224 

Cows, 529 

Sheep, 50 

Neat cattle other than cows 376 

Swine, 100 

Dwelling Houses, 273 

Largest tax payers : George Whitney Factory, $474.98 ; 
Phinehas S.Newton, $132.64: George Whitney, $1 12.70; Millard 
W. White, $102.23 ; Mrs. Henrietta Nutting, $83.25 ; George 
E. Whitney, $73.33; Caleb W. Day, $70.17; Lyman L. Clark, 
$67.50; Franklin H. Goddard, $63.56; John W. Stockwell, 
$54.54. Rate of taxation, $9 per $1000. 

TOWN CLERKS 

John Fry was chosen as the first Town Clerk in 1765 and 
served to 1781, with the single exception of 1773 when Dr. 
Stephen Bacheller was regularly chosen at the annual March 
meeting, and records the doings of that meeting and one other 
during the year but other records during the year are signed 
by John Fry as town Clerk. The town clerks since then and 
their years of service are as follows : 

Peter Woodbury, 1782, '83, '84, '85, '86, '87, '88, '89, '91, '94. 

John Bacheller, 1790, '92, '93. 

Daniel Woodbury, 1795 '96. 

Isaac Gregory, 1797, '98, '99, 1800, '06. 

Samuel Goddard, Jr., 1801, '02. 

Joseph Estabrook, 1804, '05, '08, '09, '10. 

Stephen Bacheller, Jr., 1807. 

John Norton, 1811, '14, '15, '16, '17. 

Rufus Bullock, 1812, '13. 

Thomas J. Lee, 1818, '21, '22, '23, '24. 

Franklin Gregory 1819, '20 and from 1825 to 1836 inclusive. 

Barnet Bullock, from 1837 to 1846 inclusive. 



TOWN GOVERNMENT J7 

George F. Miller, 1847, '48, '49, '51. 

Joseph Raymond, 1850, '52, '53. 

Rufus Henry Bullock, 1854. 

Charles H. Newton from 1855 to 1865 inclusive. 

George F. Miller, 1866 to 1870 inclusive, 1873. 

Joseph T. Nichols, 1871, '72. 

Joseph Walker, 1874, '75, '76. 

Dr. Frank W. Adams, 1877 to 1915 inclusive. 



TOWN TREASURERS 

The first Town Treasurer was Peter Woodbury, who served 
from 1765 to 1770 inclusive. 

Those who have served the town since, in that office have 
been as follows : 

Silvanus Hemmenway from 1771 to 1777 inclusive. 

William Town, 1778, '79, '80. 

Jonathan Sibley, from 1781 to 1808 inclusive. 

EbenezerFry, from 1809 to 1824 inclusive. 

Rufus Bullock, from 1825 to 1837 inclusive. 

Benjamin Fry, from 1838 to 1854 inclusive, with the excep- 
tion of 1840, when Joseph Estabrook served. 

George Woodbury, from 1855 to 1857 inclusive. 

Leonard Wheeler, from 1858 to 1864 inclusive. 

Charles H. Newton, 1865. 

Joseph T. Nichols, 1866. 

Obadiah Walker, 1867 to 1873 inclusive. 

Joseph Walker, 1874 to 1887 inclusive. 

George E. Pierce, 1889 to 1899 inclusive. 

Dr. Frank W. Adams, 1899 and 1900 to 1915 inclusive. 



OVERSEERS OF THE POOR 

In March 1899 John N. Bartlett made a gift of twenty 
thousand dollars to the town of Royalston, in trust, the income 
of which is for the benefit and support of the poor in the town 
of Royalston, and at the March town meeting of that year, a 
committee consisting of Caleb W. Day, one of the Overseers 
of the Poor, with B. Warren Rich, Frank W. Adams and Phinehas 
S. Newton, were chosen to receive and invest this fund. 



Jg HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Since that time the Overseers of the Poor have had the in- 
come of the Bartlett fund to expend for the poor of the town, 
which for the year 1914 amounted to eleven hundred and fifty 
dollars and forty cents. 

The present board of Overseers of the Poor are, Charles A. 
Stimson. Colin Mackenzie and Frank A. Brown. 

The Committee on the John N. Bartlett Fund are: Colin 
Mackenzie of the Overseers of the Poor, Frank W. Adams, 
Phinehas S. Newton and Charles H. Brooks. 

Charles A. Stimsoji was horn in Warwick May 17, 1856. 
He lived in that town about twenty-five years, and came to 
Royalston in 1882, when in company with George D. Bolton 
he bought the saw mill at Doane's Falls. His father bought 
out Bolton's interest about 1896, and the property was sold to 
E. E. Dickinson of Buffalo, N. Y. in 1906. Mr. Simpson was 
engaged in the saw mill business more or less for thirty-five 
years, and has also been engaged in painting, carpenter work 
and farming. His education was obtained in the district schools 
of Warwick. He has been one of the Overseers of the Poor of 
Royalston for sixteen years, being Secretary of the board most 
of the time, and has also served as Constable. Is a member of 
Star Lodge, F. and A. M. of Athol, and is a prominent granger, 
having been Master of Royalston grange seven years, and held 
various other offices in that orgainzation. Is also a member 
of the Frankhn and Worcester Pomona Grange, of which he 
has been Master, Lecturer, Assistant Steward and Treasurer, 
and was District Deputy of the Massachusetts State Grange 
for ten years. Has been chairman of the Republican Town 
Committee. 

He was married Nov. 14, 1885 to Sarah Madella Deane of 
Royalston. They have had four children, Berle D., born Mar. 
15, 1887, Gladys L., born July 30, 1888; Glen H., born Sept. 4, 
1901 and Lawrence D., born Feb. 5, 1906, all being born in Roy- 
alston. Gladys L. married W. E. Jackson of Athol June 23 
1906. She died May 21, 1909. 

Colin Mackenzie, a resident of Royalston since 1876, and a 
prominent town official, is a son of Roderick and Janet (Braid- 
wood) Mackenzie of Edinburg, Scotland. He was born Feb. 





COLIN MACKENZIE 



LEVVENS G. FORBES 





FRANKLIN A. BROWN 



CHARLES A. STIMSON 



TOWN GOVERNMEMT J9 

12, 1854 in Montreal, Canada, where he lived till the death of 
his parents in 1870, when he went to Winchendon, Mass. 

He attended Gushing academy two years, and after learning 
the carpenter's trade came to Royalston in 1876, which has 
ever since been his home. He was married Sept. 20, 1880 to 
Miss Emeline Esther White of Royalston. They have two 
children; Bessie Janet, born May 26, 1884, who is Principal 
of a school, inNew Haven, Conn., and Harlan Roderick, born 
Sept. 24, 1886, who is the Boy's Secretary of the Fitchburg, 
Y. M. C. A. Mr. Mackenzie has been actively identified with 
town offices, has held the office of Selectman for two years, and 
now holds the offices of Overseer of the Poor, Board of Health 
and Trustee of the John W. Bartlett fund. 

Franklin Allen Brown, was born May 23, 1874 at Chelsea, 
Mass. He spent his boyhood at Roxbury, Mass., where he at- 
tended the Boston Public Schoo's. His first position was with 
the Thomson Electric Welding Co., of Boston, and later was 
employed by the Reece Button Hole Machine Co., of Boston. 
He left that company in 1897 to work for the Nobscot Spring 
Water Co. In 1901 he went to work for the Boston E evated 
Railway Co., and in 1906 was given a position with the Boston 
and Maine R. R,, in the signal department, where he is now 
employed as an electric signal maintainer. He married Eliza- 
beth D. Fay of Roxbury, Mass., Nov. 11, 1896, and they 
have had eight children of whom three boys and three girls 
are now Hving. He came to South Royalston in 1908, since 
which he has held important town offices, serving as constable, 
on the Board of Health and Overseers of the Poor. He is a 
member of Corinthian Lodge No. 76, Knights of Pythias, Gen- 
ernl Sheridan Gamp, 53, Sons of Veterans and a charter member 
of South Royalston Grange. 



CHAPTER V 

SCENERY OF ROYALSTON 
and 
INDIANS AND WILD ANIMALS 

To the lover of natural scenery in its wild and picturesque 
aspects, the town of Royalston presents attractions not surpassed 
by many of the towns of Worcester County. High and rugged 
hills, grand swells of excellent land, with beautiful streams of 
water flowing through the intersecting valleys, make up the 
general contour of the land. 

Overlooking the surrounding country by its high elevation, 
it has commanding eminences which look out over the surround- 
ing country giving grand and beautiful views. To the north 
grand old Monadnock, like a guardian angel, "majestic in might 
and infinite leisure, rises grand in his height," while in the east 
Wachusett stands out in bold relief, with Watatic further to 
the north, and the high hills of Southern New Hampshire bound- 
ing the view. To the west Mount Grace, not far distant, and 
the more distant Green Mountain range are in view. Most 
truly does the poet say. 

"Ah that such beauty varying in the light 
Of living nature, cannot be portrayed 
By words, nor by the pencil's silent thrill; 
But is the property of Him alone 
Who hath beheld it, noted it with care 
And in His mind recorded it with love." 
The largest streams that water the territory of Royalston 
are three brooks that have their sources in the wild regions of 
the northerly part of Royalston, and in Southern New Hamp- 
shire and flow from north to south through the town into Millers 
River. 

Priest Brook, the most easterly one, derives its name from 
Joseph Priest. One of the first grants of Royalston territory 
was located on both sides of this beautiful little river, and was 
given in consideration of Priest having opened a half-way house 



SCENERY 41 

between Worcester and Charlestown No. 4, and extending its 
hospitalities to whoever might pass that way. Governor Bullock 
in his address refers to the grant and the Brook as follows: 

"The name attached to one of these grants has become a 
part of the local geography and daily life of the town. Priest, 
who received three hundred acres as a recognition of his loyalty 
in extending the hospitality of his half-way house near the 
easterly line of the town to all those who passed that way to 
and from the French wars, will ever live in the beautiful river 
which bears his name. And so long as the calm flow of its waters 
shall continue, so long shall live the memories of that service 
which associates your town with the pioneers and the rangers, 
with the Lily of France, with Louisburg, with that fidelity to 
the crown of our king in those days which I cannot but like, 
with those wars for our royal George's which prepared and 
•educated our fathers afterwards to overwhelm all kings in the 
Revolution." 

The name attached to the most central stream is supposed 
to have been bestowed complimentary to William Lawrence, a 
Commissioner authorized to sell and convey the township to 
the proprietors. In 1753 the second meeting of the proprietors 
was held at the Bunch of Grapes tavern in Boston, and a pre- 
viously appointed committee reported that they had found a site 
for the erection of mills on Lawrence Brook, one mile north of 
the north line of "Pequoig", now Atbol. This was ten years 
before a settlement was made in the township. 

The third of these rivers waters a deep valley running nearly 
across the town about a mile west of the Lawrence and is known 
in the proprietors records only as Long Pond; its first appear- 
ance with the present name of Tully is found recorded on the 
town book in 1770, five years later after the town was incorpora- 
ted. The source from which this name is derived seems to have 
been a subject of much inqu'ry by antiquarians and writers. 
Rev. Samuel Clark in his centennial address delivered at Athol 
in 1850, gives a tradition that was commonly accepted for a 
long time, that the name was derived from an Indian's dog 
named Tully which in following a deer drove the animal over 
the meadows into these waters, and while attempting to sieze 
his prey, was struck a stunning blow by the fore foot of the deer 
and held under the water until poor Tully was drowned. 



^2 HISTORY OF ROYALvSTON 

The late James M. Crafts, a historical writer living in Orange 
at one time, cites the names of persons living in Boston during 
the latter part of the 17th century by the name of Tully, and also 
says that, "It is more than probable that some one engaged in 
some capacity with the surveyors, when this section was laid 
out, for some reason now unknown, gave the mountain the 
name of Tully, and so that attaches to the brook. The author 
of this history while writing a historical sketch of the early 
Methodists of Athol and Orange a few years ago, found the name 
of Jemima Tully recorded on the first class paper of the Metho- 
dist church dated Aug. 5, 1795, which shows that a family of 
that name must at one time have been residents of that section. 

The gorges and waterfalls of Royalston are finely described 
by Professor Edward Hitchcock in his Geology of Massachusetts 
published in 1841 as follows: 

"There are at least three waterfalls connected with deep 
gorges in Royalston, that are well worth the attention of those 
who are fond of wild natural scenery. About a mile west of the 
meeting house and center of the town, is a deep valley running 
north and south, nearly across the town. Near the meeting house 
is a pond which empties itself into this valley by plunging 
rapidly down a steep declivity which must be eight hundred 
or a thousand feet high. It then empties into another large 
pond, or rather a remarkable expansion of a small tributary 
of Millers River. At one part of the descent of the brook above 
named, it falls at least two hundred feet by several leaps within 
a distance of a few rods, forming several very beautiful cascades. 
Here the original forests have not been disturbed. The trees 
over-hang the murmuring waters, half concealing the stream, 
while broken trunks are plunged across it in all positions. 

In the extreme northwest part of the town, on the farm of 
Calvin Forbes, a gorge and cascade exist of still greater interest: 
one of the finest indeed in the state. The stream is not more 
than ten feet wide at the spot, but it descends forty-five feet at 
a single leap, into a large basin, which from its top had been 
excavated by the erosion of the waters. The sides, to the hight 
of 50 or 60 feet, are formed of solid rocks; now retreating and 
now projecting; crowned at their summits by trees. Many of 
these lean over the gulf, or have fallen across it; so that upon the 
whole, the scene is one of great wildness and interest." 



SCENERY 43 

Piofessor Hitchcock suggested that this beautiful waterfall 
l)e named The Royal Ca.scade, partly in reference to the name of 
i\\e town, and partly 'n reference to its royal character, but 




FORBES FALLS 

it has been more generally known as Forbes Fal's. At one lime 
the proprietor of the property improved the surroundings by 
building a railing around the falls, with a flight of stairs to go 
below them, and seats, tables and swings in the grove adjoining 
and the place was visited by thousands every season. For many 
years an annual town picnic was held there with bands of music, 
and they were great gala days for the surrounding towns for 
miles around. 

In regard to the third of these water falls Prof. Hitchcock 
says: ''Two miles south of Royalston center, on the road leading 
to Athol, is another cascade on a larger stream. Its width in- 
deed, must be as much as twenty-five feet and the depth con- 
siderable. In a short distance the water here descends at several 
successive leaps, as much as two hundred feet between high walls 
of gneiss and granite. Towards the upper part of the descent. 



// 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 



several mills are erected, but a small part only of the water 
power is employed. Below the mills, the stream passes into 
the woods; and towards the lowest part of the descent, we get 
a single view of two falls of about twenty-five feet each." 

Prof. Hitchcock suggested that this might be denominated 
the Republican Cascade, but it has been known for many years 




DOANE'S FALLS 



as Doane's Falls. Situated on the little stream called the Law- 
rence, and near the road from Royalston to Athol it is the most 
accessible to the traveler of any of the Royalston water falls. 



MINERALS 

OLD ELM ON ATHOL ROAD 



45 



This grand old Elm with its wide spreading branches has 
stood as a sent'nel for over a century. It was set out by John 
Kendall and Moses Walker, and is to-day a grand monument 
to their memory. The tree was at one time sold to Seth Holman 




OLD ELM ON ATHOL ROAD 

by Dea. Anger who lived in the house opposite the tree, and 
Mr. Holman came to cut it down and use it in his manufacturing 
establishment, but because of the pleas of the Deacon's wife 
the tree was spared. 

Another majestic elm stands by the old Silas Hale house 
in South Royalston. This was set out by Stephen Hale in 1790. 

MINERALS 

Regarding the minerals of Royalston Professor Edward 
Hitchcock says: "The region in the north part of the State 
embracing the towns of Royalston. Athol, Orange, Erving and 
Warwick appears to me to promise very much to one who has 
leisure carefully to investigate its mineralogy. I feel as if the 
exploration had yet only begun." 



^^ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

The most important mineral found in Royalston is Beryl 
(jf which Mr. Hitchcock says: "The recent discovery of a rich 
locaUty of this mineral in South Royalston, enables me to place 
it as the first and most abundant of all the gems of Massachusetts. 
The specimens in the State Collection exhibit it in its natural 
State, as well as cut and polished by the lapidary. When set 
in gold, it is often much richer in appearance than the common 
beryl, that goes by the name of aquamarine. Its color often 
approaches nearer to the genuine emerald, though some speci- 
mens have the peculiar color of aquamarine. Sometimes though 
rarely, the color is a yellowish green, very much like the chry- 
solite. Hundreds of specimens have already been obtained 
from this spot; and the prospect is, that a vast many more may 
be obtained. They occur in a vein of coarse granite, ten or twelve 
feet wide, traversing gneiss; and the purest beryls are in the 
quartz. It ought, however, to be remarked, that only a few 
of the specimens are free enough from fissures to be advanta- 
geously cut. Yet considering the large number of fine cabinet 
specimens that have been, and probably can be obtained from 
there, I apprehend that no locality of beryl hitherto discovered 
in this country, can compare with this. My attention was first 
directed to it by Alden Spooner, Esq., of Athol, who generously 
furnished me with several fine specimens." He says further in 
regard to this locality: "Probably since that time one or two 
thousand specimens have been got out by myself and others; and 
I hope the locality is not yet exhausted; although as the excava- 
tion is now several feet deep much more labor is required to obtain 
them." This description was made by Dr. Hitchcock three- 
quarters of a century ago in his report as State Geologist pub- 
Hshed in 1841. 

Regarding the value of this gem, we might state that the 
heryl is the name of a family, and the aquamarine is one of the 
family, the golden beryl and the white or colorless are less valuable 
commercially while the emerald is the most valuable of 
all gems known, being several times the value of the diamond 
on a basis of purity and cleanness. The emerald and the aqua- 
marine are the more valuable and the latter is frequently called 
by those "up" m mineralogical lines, and gem experts as "pre- 
cious beryls." 



MINERALS 47 

Regarding the early history of the first finding and working 
of the Beryl Hill mine in the northeast part of the town, on 
the farm formerly owned by C. W. Bowker of Worcester, we have 
not much information. The mine is now owned by Mr. F. H. 
C. Reynolds of Boston, who has owned it for several years and 
has worked it each year to a somewhat limited extent, for scien- 
tific and pleasure purposes. 

Mr. Reynolds has satisfied himself that it is a wonderful 
property and knows that it produces an exceedingly beautiful 
quality of the variety of beryl known as the aquamarine. He 
says that he has never seen such brilliant gems from any part 
of the world w hile the color is exquisite. He has mined hundreds 
of them, and disposed of some of the good sized stones as high 
as a hundred dollars apiece, and has some in his collection that 
have been valued by experts as worth three hundred dollars. 

Mr. Reynolds describes the beryls on his place as being 
found without exception in what we term ''bunches" that is, 
they appear generally in groups of crystals. Once during the 
last summer (1915) he opened probably a hundred crystals in 
a space not more than three feet square at the most, and he 
says that it was a wonderful sight. He has many crystals from 
that find, and they have been greatly admired by some of the 
most expert mineralogists of this country. 

Mr. Reynolds is an expert on gems and has several properties 
in other states and says in regard to Royalston beryls that as 
to quality, beauty and brilliancy it will be a very difficult under- 
taking to find their equal. 

The United States Report of 1914 devotes a page to the des- 
cription of this mine and the crystals that have been found there 
it says: "Beryl of especially fine quality has been mined at 
Beryl Hill, 2 1-2 miles N. 68 degrees E. of Royalston, Mass., 
by F. H. C. Reynolds of Boston." After further describing 
Beryl Hill the openings that have been made, the geological 
structure of the mine, and other minerals found there the Report 
concludes with the following: "The Beryl Hill gems range in 
color from light to dark aquamarine, fine blue, yellowish green, 
to golden. Many very fine bluish-green stones have been cut 
and among those seen was a table-cut stone of 13 3-4 carats. The 
blue beryls of better quality are rarely excelled by those from 
other localities in brilliancy or beauty of color. Among cut 



4.8 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

gems of this quality a 12 1-2 carat brilliant cut stone was especial- 
ially beautiful." 

Among other minerals that Dr. Hitchcock found in Royalston 
were: allanite of which he found a large number of crystals in 
a bowlder of gneiss on the road from South Royalston to 
Templeton; this mineral is essentially an oxide of cerium and 
all the external character correspond to the allanite from 
Greenland: Green stone may be found in a train of blocks in 
the northwest part of the town. Of Mica, he says, "the most 
perfect crystals of mica which I have found in Massachusetts 
occur at the Beryl locality ui South Royalston. The crystals 
are usually primary form, viz., an obhque rhombic prism, and 
they vary in size from half an inch to two or three inches in 
length. Another mineral found there, much more rare is Crich- 
tonite, or Titanic Iron, which is in distinct crystals with the side 
and angles truncated. The crystals of feldspar at that locality 
were sometimes of remarkable size. 

Among the other minerals besides beryl, the United States 
Report mentions, muscovite in crystals up to three inches across, 
a little biotite, black toumaline, and dark red garnets. 

INDIANS AND WILD ANIMALS 

No history of the early days of a New England town would 
be complete without some stories of Indians or wild beasts and 
game. We have been unable to find any reliable records from 
which to make a good Indian story, while no hill, lake or stream 
perpetuates the history of the Red Man. Writers of half a 
century ago after making diligent search found nothing more 
than a few probable stone arrow heads, pestles, etc., of their 
handiwork, and some uncertain traditions of Redskins, seen 
among the brakes and alders along the margins of our ponds 
and streams, while Governor Bullock in his address at the 
Centennial Anniversary says: "A precinct that bears no vestiges 
of the aborigines and is in this respect so unlike the more southerly 
towns, which had half a century of life crowded with Indian 
traditions, that I can not find that those original lords ever 
lighted a pipe or a fire here." James Babcock, who was one of 
the early settlers of Royalston near the George Woodbury place, 
was taken captive by the Indians while living in Athol in 1746 
and was carried to Canada; on his return after living near Silver 



INDIANS AND WILD ANIMALS 49 

Lake in Athol for several years he removed to Royalston being 
among the early settlers. 

But if the first settlers of Royalston had no Indians to con- 
tend with they were abundantly supplied with bears, wolves, 
and other wild animals. Bears crossed the woodman's path, 
and alarmed the berry pickers in the clearings, while they 
feloniously made way with sheep and calves from the pastures, 
and broke into the folds by night taking their fill of choice mutton 
and pork. Wolves were more numerous and dangerous than the 
bears, though they soon left the town. The early settlers used 
to see them in the evening twilight, stealing abroad, and in the 
hours of breaking day returning to their coverts, generally 
without noise and several of them together, following each other 
in single file. In the night, however, they held high carnival 
on the open meadows, and during the winter upon the frozen 
ponds. Dea. Enos Metcalf, who lived on the high land just west 
of Long Pond, used to describe their howling as frightful. Upon 
visiting their rendezvous the next day, the grass or snow as 
the case might be, would be trodden as though a flock of sheep 
had been folded over the night on the spot. Woe to man or 
beast abroad unprotected in the night. The wolves were almost 
sure to be upon their track and hunt them down before morning. 

Jonathan Bosworth, Jr., one of the early settlers in that part 
of the town near the Winchendon line is said to have had a 
lively time with the wolves one night, which he long remembered. 
He was set upon by a pack of them as he was returning to his 
home through the woods one night. He had with him a lighted 
torch, and as they pressed upon him, he would turn and rush 
among them with his flaming pine knot, scattering them in 
wild confusion. He continued this manoeuver till he reached 
a place of safety. According to one version of the story he took 
refuge upon a huge boulder from the top of which he hurled 
defiance upon his baffled and howling foes, till daylight admon- 
ished them to disperse. The wolves even made l)old, when 
pressed with hunger, to make their attacks in the broad day- 
light. The late Benoni Peck, Esq., related an instance of this 
kind. His mother, her husband being absent one day, and she 
while engaged in her domestic affairs indoors, heard their first 
and only cow bellowing as though in affright, or mortal pain. 
She shut up her four little ones in the house, armed herself with 
a pitchfork and hastened to the scene of disturbance, where she 



50 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

found the cow cornered among some logs, and a wolf rending 
her. Mrs. Peck rushed upon the ferocious creature, employing 
both lungs and fork with a will. The wolf beat a reluctant re- 
treat and the cow, though badly mangled, was saved by the hero- 
ism of her mistress. Many a poor beast that strayed from its 
home or pasture, and failed of being hunted up by its owner, 
paid the forfeit of its temerity with its life. Royalston like 
many other towns, offered a bounty on wolves. We find on the 
early town records the following action taken at a town meeting 
held Nov. 27, 1780: Art. 5 — "Voted that any person belonging 
in this town that shall kill a wolf, shall be entitled to 40 shillings 
per head, old money, provided he kill said wolf or wolves within 
two miles of the meeting house in Royalston. Voted to allow 
Mr. Thomas Beal 3 pounds, old way, for killing wolves some 
time back." 

Wildcats, catamounts and panthers, were often heard in 
the woods, and were sometimes seen and killed. 

The Mt. Monadnock region was the stronghold of wild 
beasts and the cattle pens of Southern New Hampshire and 
Northern Worcester County were raided by these denizens of 
the woods and mountains. The children were employed to 
watch the herds by day and at night they were driven into strong 
enclosures. The catamount was an especially formidable and 
dangerous beast to encounter, and there were occasional instances 
of the shooting or taking of these dangerous animals. Rev. 
J. F. Norton in his sketch of Athol in Jewett's History of Wor- 
cester County, tells of a catamount, the last of his race, which 
was taken in a powerful steel trap, near the foot of Mt. Monad- 
nock, which measured thirteen feet and four inches from the 
nose to the end of the tail and for its stuffed skin the proprietors 
of the Boston Museum are said to have paid forty-five dollars. 

The bears were not considered as dangerous as the wolves 
and catamounts, but were a great source of annoyance because 
of their visits to the sheep folds and calves pens. Various modes 
were adopted for punishing these marauders. At first there 
were traps made of logs, and after a while iron traps were used. 
Bear hunts were frequently organized, and the common enemy 
was hunted down in this way. 

The last bear hunt in Royalston took place in August, 1829, 
and was graphically described by the late Daniel Davis in a 



WILD ANIMALS 5/ 

newspaper article al)out eighteen years ago. A wild beast had 
been seen by two or three in a wild territory lying southeast 
of what is known as the "city." The next day a bear hunt was 
organized and the people rallied from all quarters, hunters 
from North Orange rendering assistance with dogs and guns. 
The wild woodland territory was surrounded as well as the 
number of men would permit. The dogs were let loose and 
opened in the forenoon upon the wild an'mals' tracks when 
forth speeds the bear and gives his pursuers a lively chase, 
over rocks and ledges, through tangled swamps beneath black 
pine and spoon wood thickets and over huge tree trunks scattered 
around, until about the time of the setting sun reports of guns 
are heard, and the hunters rally to the spot, where shots from 
well aimed guns in the hands of Cyrus Davis and James Buffum 
brought the wild beast to the ground. One of the hunters, 
Adriel White, with less caution than curiosity, ventured too 
near the infuriated animal and was siezed by one leg that would 
have been badly mangled had not Mr. Buffum dealt a deadly 
blow with his gun upon the bear's head that saved Mr. White 
the use of all his limbs. The carcass was conveyed to the "city", 
weighed and skinned and found to be in a lean condition, although 
its weight was over two hundred pounds. The next day many of the 
hunters gathered at the "city" and a season of joy and gladness 
was passed; bear meat was cooked and eaten at Landlord Buf- 
fum's tavern and some strong drink disappeared with it. Dr. 
Stephen Bacheller had the bear's skin dressed and used it as a 
robe many years in his one-seated vehicle. 

Game abounded in the forests, while the ponds and streams 
afforded good fishing. Deer were common, and many an antler 
graced the cabins of the settlers while their larders could 
frequently boast the savory venison. Wild turkeys were for a 
long time met with in flocks of twenty, fifty or one hundred. 
Asahel Davis shot in 1808 a wild turkey gobbler that weighed 
20 pounds. The streams were once frequented by beavers as 
is shown bv the remains of their dams. 



CHAPTER VI 

CHURCHES OF ROYALSTON 

It has been said that, ''a History of any New England town 
withont an ecclesiastical chapter would surely be like the play of 
Hamlet with the part of Hamlet left out." And this is especially 
true as regards Royalston, for the Church is the foundation 
upon which was built the characters of the men and women who 
have made the History of Royalston illustrious as they have 
gone out into the uttermost parts of the earth carrying the light 
of the Gospel and Education to the people of all races and 
color. Among the first men to subscribe their names to the 
Church Covenant were the Moderator and Clerk of the 
town, the three Selectmen, the Assessors and the constable- 
Vital Godliness was so honored as not only to be held in general 
respect but also by the blessing of God to bring into Church 
fellowship, at an early period in the history of the town, leading 
and influential members of almost all the families in town. 
Religion won such a position and influence among the Fathers 
of the town that Royalston had a reputation abroad for the 
decided and consistent religious character, the intelligence, 
stability and moral worth of her people as a whole. 

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 

In 1763, only one year after the permanent settlement of 
the town began, the contract was made for the building of a 
meeting house, and it was so far completed the next year (1764) 
as to be opened for public worship. This first house of worship 
was provided at the expense of the proprietors of the township, 
and, though destitute of external pretensions or imposing 
internal appointments, for nearly a third of a century it was 
to the fathers "none other but the house of God.'" Hon. Isaac 
Royal paid one-eighth of the cost of the meeting house besides 
his own assessment as one of the company; he also gave the 
church and ' congregation worshiping therein "a handsome folio 
Bible, for promoting the decent, honorable and odvantageous 



FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 33 

reading of the Holy Scriptures in the public exercises of Divine 
Worship.^' 

Rev. E. W. Bullarcl in his historical address on the One 
Hundredth Anniversary of the Church says: "To what extent, 
and by what method, public worship was here maintained, from 
the opening of the first meeting house till the town became incor- 
porated it is now impossible to ascertain. Since the latter event, 
however, down to 1831 , when the town and parish became distinct, 
these matters were all attended to in open town meeting, and 
consequently have their place on the Records of the town. 

The town voted, assessed and appropriated, all monies 
required for maintaining public worship, chose and instructed 
committees to secure candidates, or occasional supplies, elected 
warden, tithingmen and choristers, and at first, without, and 
afterwards in conjunction wdth the church, invited the aid of 
neighboring churches, for council on their ecclesiastical affairs 
Thus we find among the records of a town meeting, that the 
town appointed a ^^day of fasting and prayer to seek the blessing 
of Almighty God on us in bringing forward this new town, and, in 
special, in gathering and setting a church, and, in due time, giving 
us a pastor after his own heart." 

The day appointed was October 13, 1766, and on this clay 
the Church of Christ in Royalston was embodied into a distinct, 
particular and visible Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. The 
council convened consisted of the Pastors and Delegates of 
the First Church of Christ in Sutton, the Church in Acton, 
the Church in Northfield, the Church in Warwick, and the 
Church in Winchendon. The solemn Church Covenant was 
signed by twelve men and four women, representing twelve famil- 
ies. The names of these first church members are: Timothy 
Richardson and his wife Alice; Samuel Barton and his wife 
Hannah; William Pierce and his wife Mary; Nathan Wheeler 
and his wife Mary; William Towne, John Fry, Isaac Nichols, 
Nathan Cutting, Abraham Stockwell, Jonas Allen, Silas Cutting 
and Benjamin Woodbury. The church being thus constituted, 
the next thing was to secure a pastor. Several candidates were 
heard, and finally, August 10, 1767, the town extended a call 
to Mr. Theophilus Chamberlin; offering him a settlement of 
£40 and the land (431 acres) originally appropriated for this 
purpose by the proprietors; and an annual salary of £40. Mr. 



^^ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Chamberlain not being satisfied with these proposals, made 
others of his own, which the town declined. 

In the following December, Joseph Lee, in response to an 
invitation of the town, came to Royalston to preach four Sab- 
baths. The committee were instructed Jan. 4, 1768. to employ 
Mr, Lee six Sabbaths longer; and on March 22d the church 
unanimously voted him a call. With this call the town unani- 
mously concurred April 11th; offering him as settlement, the 
minister's land and £400, old tenor; an annual salary of "forty- 
six pounds, six shillings and eight pence a year for the three next 
following years; and sixty pounds, lawful money a year as long 
as he remains our minister after that date." The call was ac- 
cepted and Mr. Lee's ordination took place October 19, 1768. 
The Church Records give the following minutes: 

Royalston, October 19, 1768:^This day Joseph Lee was 
ordained to the pastoral office over the Church of Christ in this 
place;his relation to the Church of Christ in Concord having been 
previously removed to the Church here. The churches convened 
m council, and who assisted on the occasion, were the following: 
The Rev. Aaron Whitney, pastor of the church in Petersham, 
began the exercises with prayer: The Rev. John Swift, pastor of 
the church in Acton delivered a discourse from 1 Tim. IV. 16. 
The Rev. David Hall, pastor of the first church in Sutton, made 
the prayer at the imposition of hands, and gave the charge. 

The Rev. Lemuel Hedge, pastor of the church in Warwick 
prayed after the charge, and The Rev. James Humphrey, pastor 
of the church in Athol, gave the Right Hand of Fellowship." 
Prior to the settlement of Mr. Lee, five persons including the 
pastor elect, had been added to the church — all by letter — - 
constituting a membership of 21; 15 males and 6 females. 

Mr. Lee was born in Concord, May 12, 1742, graduated 
at Harvard College in 1765, and preached to this people fifty 
years, his half century sermon being his last. 

Governor Bullock in his Centennial address gives this tribute 
to Mr. Lee: "I count it the most fortunate of all the events of 
your history that a man of good qualities by nature, and of 
university education took his lot with the early settlers and 
directed the conscience and judgment of the first two genera- 
tions of the town. To the steadiness and unity of the influence 
of that long and patient pastorate I ascribe largely the exemption 




REV. JOSEPH LEE 



FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 55 

from violent tendencies which has marked the community — the 
uninterrupted, straight forwardp, lacid career of Royalston." 
Three months before his death, being feeble and infirm, Mr. 
Lee turned his attention to the thought of a colleague and suc- 
cessor. On the last day of November, 1818, he called his church 
around him, under his own roof. A day of public fasting and 
prayer was appointed in which the congregation united in Dec- 
cember when ministers Sabin and Estabrook, conducted the 
services; immediately after which the church made unanimous 
choice of Ebenezer Perkins as associate pastor. The invitation 
was accepted, and the Council for ordination assembled on the 
17th day of February, 1819, at the house of Joseph Estabrook, 
but the venerable senior pastor had expired only a few hours 
before, in the 77th year of his age, and the 51st of his ministry. 

The church which begin with 16 members, and had but 21 
at the date of Mr. Lee's settlement, had now received into its 
fellowship 399, of whom 134 were males and 265 females, and 
of living m3mbers, whose names were still inscribed on its rolls 
"about 200." 

The death of Mr. Lee vacated the pastoral office scarcely 
for a single day, for Mr. Perkins having accepted the unanimous 
call extended him by the church and town was ordained February 
17, 1819, the day after the death of the first pastor. Rev. Cyrus 
Mann of Westminster preached the sermon. Five days later 
occurred the funeral of Mr. Lee. 

Rev. Joseph Estabrook of Athol, at his special request 
before he died preached the funeral sermom, from these words, 
found in the last chapter and verse of Genesis — "So Joseph 
Died." 

Rev. Ebenezer Perkins, the second pastor, was born in Tops- 
field, Essex County, and was a graduate of Dartmouth College. 
He came to this church a young man, to succeed one who left 
behind the veneration belonging to an official life of half a 
century and Governor Bullock says of him "it is but justice 
to his memory to say that not one out of a thousand men would 
have succeeded so well and left a better record in the 
town." He is described as of fine personal form, with a 
free and dignified delivery of voice; a gravity of demeanor was 
his rule in public appearance, but in private he was one of the 
most social and agreeable of gentlemen. Mr. Perkins' pastorate 



5^ HISTORY OF KOYALSTON 

continued through twenty-seven years. During this period the 
parish separated from the town, having organized as a distinct 
legal body, under the provisions of law, May 19, 1831, and 
assumed the title which it still retains, "The First Parish, or 
Congregational Society of the town of Royalston." Mr. Perkins 
at his own request was dismissed in 1846, but continued to reside 
in town till his death, which occurred suddenly Nov. 26, 1861, 
at the age of sixty-eight. Under his ministry 254 were added 
to the church. The membership as reported in the minutes 
of the General Association of Massachusetts for Jan. 1, 1847, 
was 148 — 45 males and 103 females. 

The third minister, Rev. Norman Hazen, was settled in June, 
1847, and died Feb. 13, 1852, having preached on the Sunday 
previous to his death, although quite feeble at the time. He 
was born in Hartford, Vt., Sept 7, 1814, and was the son of 
Solomon and Deborah (Fuller) Hazen of that place. The 
first of that name, and his ancestor, came to this country in 
1649 and settled in Rowley, Mass. About 130 years later a 
descendant of h's settled in Hartford, Vt., and established the 
family name in that place. Norman Hazen graduated from 
Dartmouth College in 1840. He then entered Andover Theo- 
logical Seminary, graduating in 1844. His first charge was at 
East Haverhill, Mass., and later at Ludlow, Vt., from which 
place he came to Royalston. He married Martha Vose 
of Atkinson, N. H., Sept. 14, 1845. They had three children, 
two of whom died in Royalston, and the youngest, John Vose 
Hazen, was born in Royalston Nov. 22, 1850. 

Norman Hazen was a young man of superior education, but 
of a slender body laboring under disease. Governor Bullock in 
his centennial address says of him: ''I knew him somewhat, and 
can freely say that his term here seemed a constant triumph 
of the spiritual over the mortal." 

Rev. Mr. Hazen was succeeded by Rev. Ebenezer Bullard, 
who was installed Sept. 2, 1852. He came to the Royalston 
Church from Fitchburg, where he had been pastor of the Cal- 
vinistic Congregational Church from July, 1838, to June, 1852. 
He was pastor of the Royalston Church for sixteen years. In 
his historical address in commemoration of the One Hundredth 
Anniversary of the Church, delivered Oct. 14, 1866, he says, 
in regard to the fourteen years w^hich he had then served as 



TIRST CONGREGATION AT. CHXtrcH sy 

pastor: "During these years one hundred and thirteen have been 
added to the church, and the membership at the present time 
is one hundred and thirty-one — thirty-nine males and ninety- 
two females. The addition in th^se fourteen years, have equaled 
wanting five, the whole membership at th* beginning of this 
period; and yet the gain is only thirteen — so nearly have our 
losses, by death and removals, kept pace with our accessions." 
Mr. Bullard was popular in the civic and political life of the town, 
represented the town in the Legislature of 1864, and was chair- 
man of the Committee of fifteen, who had charge of the celebra- 
tion of the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the town, 
held Aug. 22, 1865, He was also a member of the school com- 
mittee for a number of years. After leaving Royalston, he was 
pastor of the Church in Hampstead, N. H., for five years com- 
pleting forty years in the ministry. After retiring from active 
service he made his home with his daughter, Mrs. Charles S. 
Bullock of Kill Buck, N. Y., where he died in 1898, and was 
buried in Fitchburg. He was a brother of Rev. Asa Bullard, 
long president of the Mass. Sunday School Society, and of Mrs. 
Henry Ward Beecher. He was dismissed from the Royalston 
•Church Nov. 9, 1865; thus for the first century of its existence this 
church had only four pastors. The fifth pastor of the Church 
was Rev. John P. Cushman who was installed Nov. 30, 1870, 
and dismissed Dec. 4, 1872. His successor w^as Rev. Wilbur 
Johnson who was installed June 3, 1874, when Rev. Dr. Perkins 
of Ware delivered the sermon, Rev. Dr. Coolidge of Leicester, 
the installing Prayer, Rev. Davis Foster of Winchendon the 
charge to the Pastor, and Rev. Temple Cutler of Athol the 
Address to the People. 

The Seventh pastor of the Church was Rev. Milton G. Pond, 
who was installed Oct. 2, 1884, Rev. G. R. W. Scott of Fitchburg 
preaching the sermon. He had been pastor less than a year 
when he died Sept. 23, 1885, of typhoid fever. This was his 
first pastorate, he having just completed his studies at LTnion 
Theological Seminary. He was a young man of high and noble 
character, and entered upon his duties with a zeal and devotion 
that made him speedily beloved and trusted. No pastor in 
Royalston ever won in so short a time the confidence and affec- 
tion of the people. 

The next pastor to be ordained and installed as pastor of 
the First Congregational Church was Rev. Judson Wade Shaw, 



58 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 



the event taking place on June 30, 1887. This was the first 
pastorate of Mr. Shaw, he having formerly been an agent for 
school books. Soon after the commencement of his pastorate 
it was claimed that he was preaching doctrines contradictory 
to the creed and belief of the Orthodox church, and a division 
arose in the church. On June 16, 1889, Mr. Shaw read his 
resignation to take effect July 30, and on July 8 a council was 
held which had been called by the church and parish, which 
granted Mr. Shaw a dismissal, after a pastorate of about two 
years. 

Rev. Augustus M. Rice who succeeded Rev. Mr. Shaw, was 
born in Granby, Oswego County, N. Y., Dec. 2, 1842. His 
father removed to the territory of Minnesota in 1854. In Nov., 
1862, he enlisted in the First Minnesota Cavalry and served as 
corporal until Dec, 1863, when he was mustered out. He was 
graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1870, 
and from the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1873. He was 
ordained for the ministry at Little Campton, R. 1., where he 
remained seven years. In 1875 he married Anna T. Cowen of 
Little Campton, who died in 1895. He held short pastorates 
at West Tisbury and Dover, Mass., and came to Royalston 
in 1890, and served as pastor of the 1st Congregational Church 
until 1893. He was called to the Congregational church in 
Sturbridge, Mass., the same year, where he remained nine years. 
He was married to Isabelle E. Brown of Royalston, then a 
teacher in Everett, Aug. 17, 1898, and in 1903 became pastor 
of the church in Dunstable, Mass., remaining there seven years. 
In Feb., 1911, he returned to Royalston where he still resides. 

The tenth pastor was Rev. Francis J. Fairbanks, who had 
recently closed a several years pastorate in Amherst, Mass. He 
commenced to preach for the Church in Royalston on the last 
Sunday in September, 1893, and closed his labors the last Sunday 
in September, 1909, a period of sixteen years, this pastorate 
being the longest since that of Rev. Mr. Bullard. The installa- 
tion services were held Dec. 20, 1893, and the council for dis- 
mission Sept. 20, 1909. During this period forty persons were 
received nto the Church, twenty-six were dismissed and thirty- 
six removed by death. 

Mr. Fairbanks is a graduate of Amherst College, class of 
1862, and his theological studies were pursued at Princeton 




/ 




REV. NORMAN HAZEN 



REV. FRANCIS J. FAIRBANKS 





DEA. JOSEPH WALKER 



GEORGE WOODBURY 
Singer in the choir for forty year- 



FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 59 

and Union Seminaries. He was ordained and installed pastor 
of the Church in Westminster, Vt., Aug. 31, 1864, and has been 
in the pastorate fifty years. His pastorates are: Westminster, 
Vt., 7 years; Ayer, Mass., 2 years; Paxton, 3 1-2 years; West 
Boylston, nearly 8 years; Seymour, Conn., 1 year; Amherst, 
Mass., 7 years; Royalston 1st Church, 16 years; 2d Church 
6 years. Among his published works are an historical sketch 
of Westminster, Vt., in the Vermont Gazetter, 1885, and a 
number of special sermons, together with numerous reports 
of School Committee and Library trustees, and a large amount 
of correspondence for the public press. Before entering college 
he took the course in the State Normal School at Westfield 
and taught for a number of years in the public schools of Massa- 
chusetts, in Ashby Academy, Young Ladies Institute, Jersey 
City, and has aided several young men in their preparation for 
college. He served many years on the School Board and as 
Supervisor of public schools in Paxton and West Boylston, Mass., 
and on the School Board in Royalston, and during his residence 
in this town has served continuously as trustee of the public 
library. He was the first president of the "Royalston Old Home 
Week Association," and also the first president of "The Fair- 
banks Family in America." Mr. Fairbanks is a native of Ash- 
burnham, son of Emory and Eunice (Hay ward) Fairbanks, 
and a lineal descendant of Jonathan Fairbanks who settled in 
Dedham 1636, and of William White, one of the Pilgrims of 
the Mayflower. He married May 1, 1865, Abbie Smith Russell, 
and to them have been born four sons and one daughter; of the 
two sons now living, Ernest Hayward is a patent lawyer, a 
graduate of Worcester Academy, Worcester Polytechnic In- 
stitute and Columbia University Law School, Washington, D. 
C, and is a member of the firm Wiedersheim and Fairbanks, 
Solicitors of Patents, Patent Attorneys, Philadelphia. Herbert 
Stockwell Fairbanks is a graduate of the Mass. Agricultural 
College, Amherst, is a patent attorney and connected with the 
above firm. The daughter, Alice Russell, received her education 
at Amheist High School and Smith College, Northampton, and 
is the wife of Willliam A. Frye, Royalston. 

Rev. Charles G. Fogg, pastor of the church from 1910 to 
1915, was born in Westbrook, Maine, June 28, 1868, and re- 
ceived his early education in the public graded schools of Bridg- 



()0 HISTORY OF ROYALSTOlSr 

ton Centre, Me. He graduated from Bridgton Academy in 
1886, and then entered the employment of Simons, Hatch &: 
WhUten, wholesale men's furnishers of Boston, and later was 
engaged in other business in Boston. He entered Bangor Semi- 
nary in the fall of 1891. gi-aduating in 1894, and then entered 
the junior class in- Bowdoin College from which he graduated 
in 1896. In December of the same year, he became pastor of 
the Congregational churches of Port Mills and West Fairlee, Vt., 
for three 3^ears, and was then pastor of the Congregational church 
of Union, Conn., for three and one-half years. In 1903 with his 
wife he took up special Home Missionary work under the Maine 
Missionary Society at Outer Long Island in Penobscot Bay.. 
From 1903 to 1908, he was pastor of the Congregational church 
of Staffordville, Conn., going from there to West Tisbury on 
Martha's Vineyard and to Royalston in 1910. 

Jan. 12, 1898, he married Nellie Marie Burnham of Somer- 
ville, Mass. They have one son, Edwin Willard Fogg. 

Rev. Clarence Pike^ the present pastor,, commenced his duties 
as pastor July 4, 1915. He was born in North Waterford, Maine, 
Dec. 16, a son of E. B. Pike, M. D., who afterwards l>ecame a 
Congregational minister. His home until nineteen years of age 
was in several towns of Maine and after that in New Hampshire, 
He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1880, and attended 
Union Theological Seminary in New York one year, and then 
went to Andover, Mass., Theological Seminary where he gradu- 
uated in 1883, and also took a fourth year of study in that 
Institution. From 1884 to 1891, he was pastor of the Union 
Church in Amesbury, Mass. From 1891 to 1895, was pastor 
of a double charge in Underbill and Jericho, Vt. For twelve 
years commencing with 1895, he was pastor of the First Church 
of Mansfield, Conn., and for seven of these years was Acting 
Visitor in the schools of that town. From 1907 to 1911, he was 
pastor of the Church in Ashland, Mass., going from there to 
Milton, N. H., where he served from 1911 to 1915, and came 
to Royalston July 4, 1915. He was married July 6, 1887, to 
Caroline E. Thompson of Durham, N. H., and has one daughter 
who graduated from Wellesley College in 1912, and since then 
has been a teacher in the High Schools of Salem and Delphi, N, Y. 

It is a remarkable coincidence that the two old churches of 
Royalston, the First Congregational at the Centre and the Bap- 
tist at West Royalston, both being organized within a year or 




SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, SOUTH ROYALSTON 
BAPTIST CHURCH, WEST ROYALSTON 

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, ROYALSTON CENTRE 



FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH (,1 

two of each other, are also both occupying their fourth House of 
Worship, and the third meeting house of each Society was also 
destroyed by fire. 

The third meeting house of the First Congregational Society 
after being in use only about ten years was burned to the ground 
on the morning of Jan. 15, 1851, the origin of the fire having 
always remained a mystery. But the people rallied at once, and 
addressed themselves with enthusiasm to the erection of this 
their fourth sanctuary. 

Regarding this church building, Rev. E. W. Bullard in his 
Historical Discourse, delivered on the One Hundredth Anni- 
versary of the church says: "On Jan. 15, 1852, the first anniver- 
sary of the destruction of their former house, this edifice, excelling 
all the others, stood complete, and its dedication was kept with 
joy. Amateurs have admired it as a model of what a rural 
sanctuary should be — beautiful for situation, beautiful in itself, 
and sustained in all its parts and appointments. It certainly is 
the feature of this comely village; an honor to our town, and a 
witness to the good taste and liberality of its proprietors." 

During the pastorate of Rev. Wilbur Johnson the old parson- 
age which was the residence of Mr. Lee was moved away in 1874, 
and a fine house was erected on the site. 

The old house and one acre of land was purchased for one 
thousand dollars by Miss Candace Bullock and presented to 
the Society. She also gave six hundred dollars towards the new 
building. The cost of the new parsonage was five thousand 
five hundred dollars. Among those who contributed largely 
towards the erection of the building were : 

Mrs. Candace Bullock $1600 

Mr. and Mrs. William D. Ripley 791 

Mrs. D. P. Clark 691 

Joseph Estabrook 291 

Chauncey Chase 500 

Barnet Bullock 200 

Joseph Raymond 100 

George Whitney 491 

George Chase 100 

Maynard Partridge 85 

Phinehas S. Newton 75 

Elmer Newton 50 



(5? HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

The parsonage is overshadowed by a magnificent old elm set 
out by Rev. Joseph Lee. 

In 1858, under the will of Hon. Rufus Bullock, then lately 
deceased, the Society received the liberal legacy of five thousand 
dollars, the interest of which shall be forever paid and applied 
annually or semi-annually, for the support of preaching in said 
society. 

THE CHURCH BELL 

The securing of a bell for the Meeting House was an important 
event to the people of Royalston, and we find the following on 
the Town Records regarding it: 

"An invitation to the benevolent Lihabitants of the Town 
of Royalston to subscribe money for procuring a Bell for the 
East meeting house in said Town. We the Subscribers, Inhabi- 
tants of Royalston believing it would be of great convenience 
and utility to the Inhabitants of said Town, and would in a 
degree add to its respectability, to procure a bell and attacli 
it to the East meeting house, do cheerfully subscribe and promise 
to pay the several sums affixed to our names for the purpose 
above mentioned; provided the bell be purchased in the following 
manner and of the size hereafter mentioned — 1st. We are desir- 
ous to procure a bell of medium size with Bells in common 
Country towns, and one that can be warranted good if possible — 
2d. We desire that every Subscriber be notified to meet at 
Joseph Estabrook, Esq's, as soon as there is money enough 
subscribed for the purpose intended and then and there to choose 
some suitable person or persons to carry this subscription into 
effect — and for the present this subscription is to remain in 
the hands of Joseph Estabrook, Esq. 

Royalston, May 22, 1811. 

This paper was headed by Joseph Estabrook who subscribed 
S50, followed by 44 names the subscription amounting to $453. 

At a meeting of the Subscribers it was voted that there 
should be a record made on this Book of the Subscription paper 
— the names of those who subscribed and the sums — as there were 
a few who did not pay at the time it has been deferred to the 
present time. 

RUFUS BULLOCK ,Town CI ^^ k. 



STATUETTE OF THE ANGEL GABRIEL 63 

Royalston, February 17, 1814. 

In the warrant for the annual town meeting of that year 
there was an article "To let the ringing of the bell or act there- 
on," when it was voted to raise $15 for Ringing the Bell. 

STATUETTE OF THE ANGEL GABRIEL 

In 1797 the primitive church building which had comfortably 
served the people from the incorporation of the town was removed 
and an edifice more commodious and of a higher type of archi- 
tecture was erected in its place. When the structure was 
completed it was found that a balance of around sixty-five 
dollirs, according to tradition, remained in the treasury. The 




STATUETTE OF THE ANGEL GABRIEL 

good people pondered over the matter, and wishing no doubt to 
beautify their church edifice and give it at the same time a 
striking pre-eminence, placed an order for the statuette illus- 
trated in this article. It was not chiselled from marble or 
moulded from plaster but beautifully carved by a skilful artist 



()4- HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

from a huge block of first growth pine, and is all in one piece 
with the exception of the slender trumpet in the right hand. It 
is thirty-three inches high and nineteen inches in breadth across 
the wings. A niche was made high up in the wall back of the 
pulpit and in this recess the Angel Garbiel was placed and rested 
in security for nearly half a century, the cynosure of all eyes 
and the wonder of the rising generation. 

The church building of 1797, stood on the Common near 
the present highway and facing south, but in 1840 the good 
people either having once more outgrown their edifice or wishing 
a longer and broader sweep of common land, decided after 
much deliberation to take down the house of 1797, and erect 
a new one "in good modern stile" according to the old record 
on a site further west where the present church building now 
stands. 

After the old building had been completely dismantled, 
the Angel Gabriel was discovered one day by the good Deacon 
Seth Holman, according to his son's statement, "on a pile of 
waste". The Deacon rescued the discarded relic and carried 
it tenderly to his own home. Meanwhile the parish had waxed 
indifferent toward their former idol. They either considered 
that it smacked of graven images or distracted the attention 
of the congregation from the preacher and his message and no 
move was made to have the image reinstated in its former honored 
position. This attitude of the parish was fortunate for the 
perpetuity of the statuette, for the building then erected was 
destroyed by fire only eleven years later. Gabriel, therefore, 
became a permanent member of the household of Deacon Holman 
and his posterity and accompanied them when the family re- 
moved from Royalston in the late sixties. In 1903, on the occa- 
sion of Royalston's first "Old Home Day," Mr. George W. 
Holman of Fitchburg, thinking that the statuette, after its 
exile of more than sixty years, had now become a historical 
relic of great value, restored it to the old Parish and the unveiling 
of it before the large audience at that reunion was one of the in- 
teresting features of the day. The photograph of this work of 
art, connected so intimately with the history of the local church, 
has therfore been awarded what it has so richly deserved, a 
place in the history of Royalston 



THE BAPTIST CHURCH 55 

THE BAPTIST CHURCH 

In a Half-Century Discourse preached Oct. 19, 1818, by 
Rev. Joseph Lee, first Congregational minister of Royalston, 
this statement occurs:— "When I first came into town in Decem- 
ber, 1767, there were 42 or 43 families in the place; and ten of these 
were of the Baptist denomination, who had a teacher and main- 
tained religious worship by themselves. They some years 
afterwards built a house for their own use, which, after a number 
of years was taken down, and an elegant meeting house was 
erected by them near the Northwest limits of the town." 

The old records of this Church give an account of how and 
why this branch of the Church was formed as follows: "The 
following lines is to give a brief account how the Church of 
Christ was gathered in Royalston agreeable to the Baptist Con- 
stitution — and also of theirs — which is as follows: 

Whereas God in His Providence has cast the lot of a number 
of Baptist brethren and sisters in Royalston belonging to several 
churches, which are situated at a great distance from us so that 
we can not enjoy church privileges with them but seldom. 
Therefore we consider it to be our duty and our greatest privilege 
to strive by the assistance of God's grace to embody into a church 
among ourselves that we may enjoy the Privileges which 
Christ hath purchased for his children. And for the same 
purpose we met together and held a conference meeting and 
being so far agreed in this thing that we sent to the church of 
Christ in Thompson under the pastoral care of Elder Whitman 
Jacobs to dismiss such of us as was under their watch and care 
to assist us in Imbodying into a church among ourselves and in 
answer to our request they sent us their elder and by him sent 
us a dismission and gave us full Uberty to Imbody among our- 
selves (and Brother David Morse of Sturbridge met with us 
at the same time whom we gladly received into our meeting), 
the brethren being met together at the same time June, ye 19th, 
1767. Then held a conference meeting but did not imbody in 
a church because some which we expected to joyn with us was 
not met with us so we adjourned our meeting to ye 18th day of 
September insuing, expecting that Elder Whitman Jacobs to 
meet with us on our adjournment (Thomas Chamberlin, Jun., 
was baptized by Elder Jacobs, June ye 20th, A. D. 1767) but 
Elder Jacobs did not meet us on our adjournment so we remained 



66 



HISTORY OF KOYALSTON 



in the s.xrae ease till the 10th day of March, 1768. Then being 
met together by appointment to consider of our present circum- 
stances' and it was concluded by the major part of us that it 
was our duty to strive to Imbody into a church among ourselves. 
Not because we did not esteem it a very great privilege to have 
assistance from some other church or churches, but because we 
had been long waiting for Elder Jacobs to assist us, but in Provi- 
dence he was hindered from coming, therefore we thought it 
not expedient to wait any longer for assistance but adjourned 
our meeting to ye 2ith day of March, instant, then being met 
together and acted on our adjournment and came to a full 
conclusion that by the assistance of God's grace to Imbody 
into a church, and adjourned our meeting to the Seventh Day 
of April, insuing, then being met together and the major part 
of us were still of the same mind, but some could not act be- 
cause they feared they were not true believers in Christ, so we 
acted nothing except that we chose Brother Asa Jones Scribe, and 
adjourned our meeting to the 25th day of April, instant, then 
met together on our adjournment and labored with those brethren 
that could not act with us in our last meeting, and our labours 
seemed to be blest for the strengthening their faith, so we ad- 
journed our meeting to the 5th day of May, insuing, and being 
met together to act on our adjournment, then renewed our 
fellowship by giving a relation of our Christian experience one 
to the other and gave up ourselves afresh to God and each other, 
promising by the assistance of God's grace to watch over one 
another and to admonish one another in the fear and love of 
God and to act as brethren together in Christ, thus we Imboded 
together in church order, viz., of the brethren Isaac Estey, 
Thomas Chamberlin, Jun., Elisha Rich, Asa Jones, Jacob Estey, 
John Chamberlin, of the sisters Sarah I^stey, Charity Cham- 
berlin." 

Thus after these various attempts, for nearly a year to 
Imbody, the Baptist Church of Royalston was organized with 
eight members, being the 5th Baptist church in Worcester 
County and the 22d in Massachusetts. A month later Thomas 
Chamberlain, Simeon Chamberlain, Lois Chamberlain and 
Mary Marsh united with the little band, and soon after they were 
joined by Naphtali Streeter and Eliphalet Moore, and after- 
wards by other kindred spirits until when a century had passed 
not less than six hundred different persons had been connected 



THE BAPTIST CHURCH 67 

with this church. The records state that "May ye 19th, 1768, 
the brethren by appointment met together to converse concern- 
ing brother Elisha Rich's Improvement amongst us and being 
satisfied that he had a gift to preach the gospel, whereupon we 
desired him still to Improve his gift with us and also to lead in 
church meetings." Elder Elisha Rich continued to be the teacher 
of the Baptist people about two years when he moved to Chelms- 
ford, where he was ordained in 1774, and in 1795 he was preach- 
ing in Pittsford, Vt. 

The first settled pastor of this church was Rev. Whitman 
Jacobs who was installed Dec. 13, 1770, after a successful 
pastorate of twenty years in Thompson, Conn., from which 
place many of the Baptist families that settled in Royalston 
had come. He was a native of Bristol, R. I., of the unadulter- 
ated Roger Williams stock. He was pastor sixteen years and 
resigned in 1786. It is stated that his connection with the church 
as pastor was terminated on account of the position that he 
took regarding Shay's Rebellion, the minister favoring the 
Government side, while most of the church sympathized with 
Shay, and such a controversy arose in the church that Mr. 
Jacobs was dismissed. Soon after he became pastor at Guilford, 
Vt., where he was preaching in 1795. Elder Jacobs was living 
with his son, Joseph, in Royalston when he died, March 28, 
1801. His salary while pastor of the Royalston church was 
fifty dollars per year. His descendants have been among the 
prominent citizens of the town. 

On the installation of the first pastor, Isaac Estey and Thomas 
Chamberlin were appointed and duly qualified to the office 
of Deacons and Asa Jones was chosen Scribe. 

The first meeting house built by this Society was located 
upon the margin of those beautiful meadows bordering Long 
Pond: "a point in one respect as (Elder Kenney says in his 
historical address) at least, more favorable from which to unfurl 
the Baptist banners than any since occupied by this Church, 
because, like "Enon, near to Salim, there was much water there." 
Rev. Silas Kenney says regarding this building: "But when that 
house was built, or who were the principal actors in the enter- 
prise, are questions which the records do not solve. Certain 
it is that the house continued to be occupied as a place of worship 
till near the time when the other elegant house mentioned by 
Minister Lee, was built." It was probably erected some time 



(,g HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

between 1779 and 1783. This building was about 36 by 40 
feet in size. 

The successor of Elder Jacobs was Elder Moses Kenney of 
Dublin, N. H. The call of the Church was extended March 
21, 1789. The call being accepted the Church proceeded to 
make arrangements for his support. It was voted, first to hire 
a farm for Brother Kenney to live on, for the present year, and 
then to build him a house during the year, Kenney received 
ordination, both as pastor of the Church and as an evangelist, 
to itinerate a part of his time in the region round about, Oct, 
1, 1789. He was dismissed from ministerial labors Jan. 28, 
1796, and died in Royalston April 23, 1800, at the age of 47 
years. Rev. Isaac Kenney, brother of Moses Kenney, from 
Richmond, N. H., was pastor of the church about a year. After 
this the church was destitute of a pastor for several years and 
had to depend on private "gifts" and occasional pulpit supplies. 
From time to time the Deacons and in some instances private 
brethren, were appointed to lead in worship in the pubUc meet- 
ings. May 24, 1798, a movement was made to constitute a 
Baptist church in Warwick, and to set off a portion of the mem- 
bers of this church, to build a church of "livelj' stones" in that 
place." Twenty-two members accordingly signified their wish 
to form themselves into a new Church in Warwick, and they 
were dismissed agreeably to their request. After preliminary 
measures had been attended to, an ecclesiastical council con- 
vened at the house of Bro. James Kelton in Warwick Jan. 
16, 1799, and proceeded to constitute the new Church. From 
the formation of the Church in W^arwick, the book of records 
loses sight of the old church in Rx^yalston for a considerable 
period. The church had ceased to occupy the old meeting house 
as the place of public worship, and were actually making pre- 
parations to build another house. Their religious services for 
some time were held in a large hall in the house of Brother 
John Jacobs, formerly known as the Garfield place at the City, 
The Church voted Aug. 8, 1801, to invite Elder Levi Hodge to 
take the lead of the church and "break unto them the bread 
of life." He was installed in June, 1802, and in June of the 
following year, measures were taken, by appointing a joint 
committee of brethren from the Church in Warwick and the 
Church in Royalston, to bring about a re-union of the two 
churches, and as the result, a council was called by whose judi- 



THE BAPTIST CHURCH 69 

cious advice, these feeble intersts became one Church under 
the cognomen of the Royalston and Warwick Baptist Church. 
The terms of union were well defined, one of which was that in 
respect to the location of a new meeting-house which had now 
become necessary, the old Church should meet the brethren of 
Warwick on the spot now known as the old Baptist Common in 
the northwest part of Royalston. According to the advice of 
the Council a church building was erected there. The size of 
the church was about 40 by 60 feet, with 24 feet posts, finished 
within and without, according to the most advanced tastes of 
the times. This was the building referred to by Parson Lee 
in his half century sermon preached in 1818, as "a new and 
elegant meeting-house." It was dedicated in January, 1805.. 

The sermon was preached by Elder Elisha Andrews of Tem- 
pleton, who rode from home with his wife on the same horse. 
Mrs. Isaac Gale, mother of Hon. S. C. Gale, in her reminiscences 
of her early days, says: "I sang at the dedication, I remember 
there was a row of singers from the front on the treble side clear 
down to the pulpit." This was the only time the building was 
ever filled. It was on the occasion of the raising of this meeting- 
house, that it is said, the prayer of Elder Hodge was heard at 
the distance of half a mile. 

Rev. Mr. Hodge served as pastor until his death in 1819. 
He had a salary of -150 per year, afterwards increased to .$55, 
then to $60, and when it had reached $75, he procured an additional 
horse for his wife to ride to church upon. He lived on a farm 
in Warwick and used to say his salary just kept his horse shod. 
At the end of the minutes of the Leyden Association we find 
the following: 

"We announce to the Church the death of Elder Levi Hodge, 
pastor of the Baptist Church of Royalston and Warwick. He 
was faithful in his charge, unspotted in his life and beloved by 
his flock. The memory of the just is blessed." 

The successor of Elder Hodge was Rev. Joseph M. Graves 
of Wendell, a young man with a family, and a shoemaker by 
trade; he was ordained Jan. 10, 1821. The field of Elder Graves's 
labors m this place extended over the whole territory now occu- 
pied by the three churches into which the people of his charge 
have since become divided. His work continued for a term of 
four years, when at his own request he was dismissed. Probably 
not less than a hundred members were added, while a large 



yO HISTORV OF ROYALSTON 

number died, twelve were dismissed and five excluded. During 
his pastorate the congregation on fair weather Sundays is said 
to have numbered 300 or more. 

Rev. Asaph Merriam succeeded Bro. Graves. He was set 
apart to the work of the ministrj^, in conjunction with two 
others, who were ordained as evangelists Sept. 29, 1825. He 
officiated as pastor of the Church about five years, when at his 
request, he was dismissed Nov. 30, 1830, enjoying the unquali- 
fied respect and esteem of his people. Elder Thomas Marshall 
was the next pastor called and was installed April 20, 1831. 
His stay was brief, efforts being made during his pastorate to 
have the meetings given up in the west part of the town and 
removed to the Centre. He was dismissed and recommended 
on the last Tuesday in February, 1833. The Church was now- 
dependent on occasional supplies till the spring of 1835. when 
on April 13, Elder Henry Tonkin became pastor; he resigned 
his care of the Church in the spring of 1837, and on Sept. 3d, 
of that year. Elder Silas Kenney was constituted pastor by the 
simple vote of the Church. Rev. Silas Kenney was born in 
Sutton, June 12, 1797. His father was a farmer of Sutton, 
and was of Scotch-Irish descent, his ancestor Daniel Kenney 
coming to America with the first of the Scotch-Irish emigration 
in 1718. He was the popular pastor of this church for upwards 
of twenty years being dismissed at his own request in April, 1858. 
He was also popular among his townsmen representing the town in 
the Legislature of 1848. In his Centennial address Governor 
Bullock speaks well of his ability and faithfulness. 

Rev. S. Cutler of Grafton, became pastor Sept. 19, 1849, and 
remained such over two years, until the time of his death Jan. 
25, 1861, and in May following Rev. L. Tandy assumed the watch 
care of the Church, a position which he filled for five years. 
Rev. J. D. Miller was called to the pastorate and was ordained 
April 27, 1866; at the end of one year he gave place to Rev. C. 
Brooks, who entered upon his work in April, 1867, being the 

fifteenth pastor of the Church. Later ministers have been: 

Rev. L. Wheeler, 1869; Rev. Z. W. Kemp, 1871; Rev. A. V. 

Clark, May, 1874, to April, 1878; Rev. Tilson and Bro. L. F. 

Shepardson supplied during 1878; W. F. Slocum, 1879; no 

pastor in 1880; Rev. J. H. Parmelee, 1881; supplied by Bro. 

E. Hatfield in 1882; no pastor in 1883; Rev. J. T. vSraith, D. D.. 

Nov., 1883, to April, 1887; no settled pastor from April 1, 1887, 



THE BAPTIST CHURCH 71 

to April 1, 1888; Rev. Andrew Dunn, April, 1888, to May, 1891; 
Rev. John W. Denno, May, 1891, to Sept., 1892; Rev. George 
L. Ruberg, Dec, 1892, to April, 1897; Rev. E. 0. Taylor, May, 
1897, to Jan., 1901; Rev. H. T. Slocum, July, 1901, to May, 1906; 
Rev. C. B. Williams, Nov., 1903, to Oct, 1909; Rev. W. J. Halse, 
Feb., 1910, to March, 1914; Harold W. Curtis stated supply 
June, 1914, to Sept., 1915. The present pastor is Rev. R. C. 
Eaton, who commenced his duties Oct., 1915. 

The second House of Worship served the purpose of this 
church until August, 1846, when the pastor. Rev. Silas Kenney, 
says: "On the last Sabbath in August we took leave of our large 
and once elegant meeting house, as a place of worship, when an 
appropriate discourse was delivered by the Pastor giving the 
outlines of the history of the church from its earliest organiza- 
tion to the present time. Next day we commenced the sad 
work of taking down the long cherished edifice." 

The third church of the Society which was erected in that 
part of Royalston known as the "City", was dedicated Dec. 
3, 1846, and was the home of this church for almost half a century 
when it was destroyed by fire Dec. 23, 1894, having been occu- 
pied as a place of worship longer than either of the other meeting 
houses. The members of this little church although few in 
numbers were not disheartened, but soon commenced making 
plans for rebuilding. A building committee was appointed 
consisting of the Pastor, Rev. Geo. L. Ruberg, Luther E. Stewart 
Luke B. Shepardson, Albert Whaland and Geo. A. Bemis. 
The Committee organized with George A. Bemis as Chairman, 
Luther E. Stewart secretary, and Luke B. Shepardson treasurer. 

Work was soon commenced on the erection of the building 
and in a little more than a year, the present beautiful little church 
edifice was ready for dedication which took place on Feb. 19, 1896, 
when a good number of the members of the church, with their 
friends from surrounding towns were present. Rev. Geo. L. 
Ruberg, pastor of the church was president of the day and the 
services of the afternoon opened with an organ voluntary with 
Emil H. Bemis of Holyoke as organist. The invocation was 
by Rev. J. H. Mansfield of the Athol Methodist church. Rev. 
F. J. Fairbanks of the Royalston Congregational church read 
scripture selections, George A. Bemis gave the report of the 
building committee and Rev. J. N. Shipman of the Athol Baptist 



72 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Church offered prayer. Rev. C. H. Spaulding of Boston preach- 
ed the sermon from the text, ''The Lord hath done great things 
for us." The Prayer of Dedication was by Rev. W. H. Eaton and 
the Address by Rev. Dr. Eaton. One of the anthems of the 
afternoon, "I was Glad" was composed for the occasion by E. 
H. Bemis and the benediction was by Rev. Daniel Shepardson. 

Interesting exerc'ses were also held in the evening. 

The cost of the building was about Four Thousand dollars, 
of which Two Thousand dollars was given by Joel Gates of 
Burlington, Vt., a native of West Royalston; Elbridge Boyden 
of Worcester was the architect; Herbert S. Goddard of Athol 
gave the organ and Lyman Stone of Royalston a clock. 

It seems that the matter of singing was a subject of conten- 
tion in the churches of the olden times as well as the present 
day. The old records show the following action taken in 1791: 
"Voted that the singers do sing the old tunes in the former 
part of the day and such tunes as they please in the after part 
of the day by reading two lines at a time only, the last singing, 
and then to sing without reading." 

For many years Dea. Enos Metcalf had charge of the singing 
in the old meeting-house under the hill, and when he requested 
that the custom of lining off the hymns be dispensed with, 
many of the people left the meeting-house. The excitement ran 
quite high, and the introduction of some new tunes added fuel 
to the flame. 

Although this little church has not had more than fifty 
members at any time for fifty-five years, yet it has given to 
America as follows: Nine soldiers to the Revolution, sixteen 
soldiers to the War of 1812, thirty-one soldiers to the Civil War, 
twenty-nine ministers of the Gospel, six ministers' wives, one 
governor, one hundred and sixty-eight public school teachers, 
and scores of efficient members sent to other churches. 

THE BAPTIST CHURCH AT ROYALSTON CENTER. 

Owing to the trouble in the West Royalston Baptist Church 
eleven members of that church including the Church Clerk, were 
granted letters of dismission March 27, 1836. These with seven 
others sought membership in the Athol Baptist church and were 
received May 11, 183G. The same day these with five 
others asked to be established as a branch of the Athol church 



:baptist rnuRCH at ROYALSTON CENT"RE 



73 



in Royalston Centre and the request was granted. Elder Simonds 
pastor of the New Boston (Royalston and Winchendon) church, 
assumed pastoral charge over them and continued until his 
death seventeen months later. Regarding this church Governor 
Bullock says that the Baptists bought out the property of a 
Union Society on the southeast corner of the Common and for 




OLD BAPTIST CHURCH AT ROYALSTON CENTRE 



some time kept up a church quite large in its numliers having 
at one time one hundred and twenty members. This church 
severed its connection with the Athol Church Oct. 27, 1839, 
and on Nov. 14, 1839, a Council met and duly established the 
church. 

Wm. G. Lord in his history of the First Baptist Church 
of Athol says: "In the heyday of its existence this church 
numbered eighty-five souls, but its life was short and its end a 
gradual death. Its last report to the association was in 1855, 
but it was kept on the list of churches until 1860, when verbal 
information to the association that the members were gradually 
taking letters to other churches led the association to drop the 
name from the roll. Many of the members sought affiliation 



J4. HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

with the Athol church where they remained constant and loyal 
until their death, others affiliated with the West Royalston 
and New Boston churches. Rev. Lysander Fay of Athol was 
one of the pastors of this church for several years. 

In 1863 the church building was sold and moved from its 
original location to near the north end of the Common where 
it served for many years as a barn or stable for Col. George 
Whitney, and is now used as headquarters for the fire depart- 
ment of Royalston Centre. 

FREE DONATION SOCIETY 

A religious Society known as the Free Donation Society of 
Royalston, existed in the first half of the 19th century, which 
had a considerable following. Of their religious belief and the 
character of their services we have no definite knowledge. The 
names of the members of this Society would indicate that the 
memViership of this organization was composed mostly of those 
living in the west part of the town. Their meetings were held 
in school houses. 

The first record we have of this Society is a certificate of 
the members in 1820, which reads as follows: 

We certify that Jonah Walker, .James Walker, Calvin Walker, 
John Hill, Moses Garfield, Solomon Peck, 2d, Jonas Brewer, 
Lewis Brewer, Russell Ballon, Luther Ballou, Wesson Ball, 
Benjamin W. Bliss, Abel Bliss, Walter Erskine, Calvin Peck, 
David Fisher, Jason Fisher, Joseph Davis, Benjamin Thurston, 
Elisha Kingsley, of the town of Royalston, are members of the 
Religious Society in the Town of Royalston Called Free Dona- 
tion. 

Dated this first Day of May, A. D., 1820. 
ABEL BLISS, 

MOSES GARFIELD, Committee. 
SOLOMON PECK, 2d, 
Other certificates of membership are recorded up to 1827. 
We have seen no records of their meetings and it is safe to 
assume as Governor Bullock says in his Centennial address 
that when the third articles of the Bill of Rights was so changed, 
about 1832, as to invest every citizen with the right to contribute 
to any religious society, or to none at all, according to his 
volition, this class of organizations disappeared from the town 
and have left no record behind. 



CHAPTER VII 

POLITICAL 

A town meeting was held September 1, 1808, at which the 
business was, ''To hear and consider a letter from the Selectmen 
of Boston, respecting; Petitioning the President of the United 
States to suspend or procure the repeal of the existing Embargo 
Laws, or act anything thereon they may think proper." 

Ammi Faulkner was moderator, and it was voted to Petition 
the President of the United States relative to the Embargo 
Laws of which the following is a copy: 

"To the President of the United States. The inhabitants 
of the Town of Royalston in legal town meeting asseml)led most 
respectfully approach the Chief Magistrate of our Nation, 
and beg leave to lay before him this, our petition and request, 
and would most humbly represent that we view with the 
deepest concern the effects of the Present existing Embargo 
Laws upon this Nation, and more particularly the eastern 
part thereof, as we think the effects are there more severely 
felt; it will be unnecessary to detail to your Excellency the 
many and various evils resulting from the total suspension of 
Commerce among which is the great loss to the revenue of the 
L^nited vStates. This small section of your citizens are mostly 
Husbandmen. They sensibly feel the effects of the Embargo 
in the reduced prices of the surplus of the produce of their 
Farms and the enhanced prices of tho^e things which have be- 
come necessarys and conveniences of Life, and which the people 
of this country have been in the habit of importing; likewise 
the reduced price of laliour and the discouragement of our young 
men from purchasing and clearing new land for the want of a 
market for the prorlace thereof. Sir, we assure you that we 
have ever been quiet and peaceable Citizens and have uniformly 
manifested our patriotism and respect for the laws and Govern- 
ment of our Country. But so distressing are the embarrassments 
produced by the Embargo that we can not contemplate its 
continuance without serious and alarming apprehensions. 
Your petitioners, therefore, pray that the eml^argo in whole 



7(5 HISTORY OF ROYALSTOK 

or in part may be suspended according to the powers vested in 
tlie President by the Congress of the United States. 

By order for and in behalf of said meeting, 

AMMI FAULKNER, Moderator. 
Attest, JOSEPH ESTABROOK, Town Clerk. 

Town of Royalston, County of Worcester and Commonwealth 

of Massachusetts, 

September 1, 1808, 

At ancrther Town Meeting held the following winter on 
Feb. 23, 1809, with Ammi Faulkner as Moderator, the citizens 
of Royalston speak with no uncertain tone regarding the con- 
dition of public affairs, and their right to discuss in public Town 
Meetings the measures of Government, 

A committee of five consisting of Joseph Estabrook, Stephen 
Bacheller, Jr., John Norton, Isaac Metcalf and Rufus Bullock 
are chosen to draft a petition. It was voted to adjourn the 
meeting one hour, at the expiration of which this committee 
presented a petition of which the following is a copy: 

"To the Honorable, the Senate and the House of Represen- 
tatives in General Court assembled, being the honourable the 
Senate and house of Representatives of the Commonwealth 
of Massachusetts. The inhabitants of the Town of Royalston 
legally assembled in Town Meeting for the purpose of taking 
into consideration the present unprecedented and very alarming 
situation of our public affairs. Humbly represent that when 
there is a derilection from the first principles, when there is a 
practical separation from what is warranted by the constitution 
in those that lead in Government, then there is a call to vigilance 
to prevent the progress of the evil. 

Notwithstanding it has been recently estimated from high 
authority that the people in Town Meetings, are not capable of 
judging of the propriety or impropriety of the measures of 
Government, and that there are stages when an end must be 
put to debate, yet so long as as we consider our National and 
State constitutions the law of our land, we shall, agreeably to 
the rights therein secured to us which rights we are determined 
never to rehnquish, take the liberty in all important matters, 
particularly when those rights are invaded and trampled upon, 
to assemble in orderly and peaceable manner to make our griev- 
ances known and to use all proper and constitutional means to 



POLITICAL 77 

have them redressed. We have seen with anxiety a system of 
measures pursued which has paralyzed Industry and enterprise, 
discouraged our farmers and embarrassed our merchants, 
brought distress upon all classes of our people and produced the 
greatest temptations for an illicit trade perhaps ever known. We 
are firmly attached to our National and State Constitutions 
and cheerfully pledge our lives and everything we hold dear 
to support them. We are also firmly attached to a union of 
the states and should view with horror and detestation any 
attempts to sever them or to discountenance that friendship 
and harmony that ought to subsist between them. In our 
opinion the several acts laying an Embargo, more particularly 
the late law to enforce it, are unconstitutional and tyranical 
beyond all former example in this country, and unprecedented 
in any except those that are completely despotic, as it unites 
in the same person legislative, executive and judicial powers, 
subjects our houses to unreasonable searches and seizures upon 
the mere suspicion of an uncertain dependent, and renders the 
innocent equally liable to suffer with guilty subjects as in fact 
to a military despotism, and produces a long train of evils, 
abuses and usurpations to which in our opinion it would be 
criminal for free men patiently to submit without remonstrance, 
and indeed if they do willingly submit they become voluntary 
slaves. 

We are firmly attached to our State Legislature and highly 
approve of their measures the present session, and I'equest 
them to preserve with firmness and use their influence with 
our national government to abandon a system of measures 
destructive to our National prosperity, and we renewedly pledge 
our lives and fortunes in support of our just rights and National 
Independence, but we do not feel willing to proffer our all in 
support of an unnecessary war for the gratification of any party 
and in duty bound will ever pray. 

Voted to accept the above petition and dissolve said meeting." 

J. ESTABROOK, Town Clerk. 

The first Representative to the General Court, from Royal- 
ston was chosen. May 27, 1776; and at the last town meeting 
warned in his majesty's name. The next meeting was held, 
Sept. 20th of the same year, but the warrant was issued under 



78 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTOK 



the authority of a different name, as follows: ''In the name of 
the Government and People of the State of Massachusetts Bay 
in New England." 

After 1776, the town did not send a Representative again 
till 1780; but from that time with a few exceptions, there has 
been a regular succession, generally but one, sometimes two, 
annually, down to 1857. Since then, the District System has 
prevailed and Royalston has been associated with other towns. 
The General Court used to convene annually on the last Wednes- 
day in May — the old election day — when the Governor and 
Government elect, for the ensuing year, were inaugurated. 

REPRESENTATIVES TO THE GENERAL COURT 

Timothy Richardson, 1776. 

John Fry, 1780, '83, '84, '85, "87. 

Jonathan Si))ley, 1783. 

Peter Woodbury, 1788, '89. 

Oliver Work, 1792. 

Isaac Gregory, 1794, '95, 1801, '03, '08, '07, '08. 

Phihp Sweetzer, 1798. 

John Norton,, 1800, '13, '14. 

Joseph Estabrook, 1809, '10, '11, '12, '15, '16, '17, '25. 

Squier Davis, 1823. 

Rufus Bullock, 1820, '21, '27, '28, '29. 

Stephen Bacheller, Jr., 1826, '30. 

Frankhn Gregory, 1831, '33. 

Benjamin Brown, 1832, '45. 

Asahel Davis, 1834. 

Russell Morse, 1835, '36, '39. 

Arba Sherwin, 1835, '37, '39. 

Benoni Peck, 1836, '37. 

Salmon Goddard, 1838. 

Benjamin Fry, 1838, '40, '54. 

Cyrus Davis, 1840. 

Hiram W. Albee, 1843, '46, '52, '53. 

Barnet Bullock, 1844. 

Silas Kenney, 1848. 

Elmer Newton, 1849. 

Joseph Raymond, 1850, '51. 

Tarrant Cutler, 1855. 



POLITICAL 79 

Jarvis Davis, 1858. 
Joseph Estabrook, 1857. 

The twenty-first article of the amendments to the Consti- 
tution was adopted by the Legislatures of 185(3 and '57, and 
ratified by the people in 1857. Under the provisions of the 
amendment the towns of Royalston and Athol constituted 
the Second Representative District of Worcester County, and 
were represented until the next apportionment as follows: 

Isaac Stevens, of Athol, 1858. 

George Whitney, of Royalston, 1859. 

Nathaniel Richardson, of Athol, 1860. 

Elisha F. Brown, of Royalston, 1861. 

Farwell F. Fay, of Athol, 1862. 

Alpheus Harding, Jr., of Athol, 1863. 

Ebenezer W. Bullard, of Royalston, 1864. 

Calvin Kelton, of Athol, 1865. 

Wm. W. Clemtnit, of Royalston, 1866. 

Under the apportionment of 1866, based on the census of 
1865, the same towns constituted the same district, and were 
represented until the next apportionment as follows: 

Alpheus Harding, of Athol, 1867. 

Jeremiah A. Rich, of Royalston, 1868. 

Thomas H. Goodspeed, of Athol, 1869. 

Benjamin H. Brown, of Royalston, 1870. 

Ozi Kendall, of Athol, 1871. 

George H. Hoyt, of Athol, 1872. 

George H. Hoyt, of Athol, 1873. 

Jeremiah A. Rich, of Royalston, 1874. 

Edwin Ellis, of Athol, 1875. 

William W. Fish, of Athol, 1876. 

Under the apportionment of 1876, based on the census of 
1875, the same towns constituted the Eighth Worcester District, 
and were represented until the next apportionment as follows: 

Joseph Walker, of Royalston, 1877. 

J. Sumner Parmenter, of Athol, 1878. 

Leander B. Morse, of Athol, 1879. 

Russell S. Horton, of Athol, 1880. 

Ira Y. Kendall, of Athol, 1881. 

Henry M. Humphrey, of Athol, 1882. 

Frank W. Adams, of Royalston, 1883. 



§0 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

C. Frederick Richardson, of AthoL 1884. 

Washington H. Amdsen, of Athol, 1885. 

Benjamin W. Rich, of Royalston, 1886. 

Under the apportionment of 1886, based on the census of 
1885, the towns of Athol, Royalston and Phillipston, constituted 
the First Representative District of Worcester County, and 
have been represented as follows: 

Sidney P. Smith, of Athol, 1887, 1888. 

John D. Holbrook, of Athol, 1889. 

C. Waldo Bates, of Phillipston, 1890. 

Lucien Lord, of Athol, 1891. 

Charles A. Crossman, of Athol, 1892. 

Col. George Whitney, of Royalston, 1893. 

C. Waldo Bates, of PhiUipston, 1894. 

Harding R. Barber, of Athol, 1895, 1896. 

Under the apportionment of 1896, the same towns consti- 
tuted the First Worcester District and during this decade the 
District was represented as follows: 

Wm. H. Mellen, of Athol, 1897. 

Oscar T. Brooks, of Athol, 1898. 

Phinehas S. Newton, of Royalston, 1899. 

Charles A. Carruth, of Athol, 1900, 1901. 

Edmund C. Shepardson, of Athol, 1902, 1903. 

Fred W. Lord, of Athol, 1904, 1905. 

James H. Hutchins, of Phillipston, 1906. 

In the apportionment of 1906, two towns were added, and 
the First Worcester District now consists of Athol, Royalston, 
Petersham, Dana and Phillipston, and the Representatives 
under the apportionment have been: 

James Oliver, of Athol, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910. 

Merrick E. Hildreth, of Petersham, 1911. 

Ernest Warren Tyler, of Athol, 1912, 1913. 

Fred W. Cross, of Royalston, 1914, 1915, 1916. 

In addition to the Representatives to the Legislature, those 
who have represented Royalston in the State Government 
and Conventions have been: 

Henry Bond, Delegate to the First Provincial Congress, in 
1774. 

Nahum Green, Delegate to the Second Provincial Congress, 
in 1774. 



POLITICAL 81 

Henry Bond, Delegate to the Concord Convention for Stat- 
ing prices, 1779. 

Silvanus Hemenway, Delegate to the First Constitutional 
Convention, 1770. 

At the town meeting at which it was voted to send Mr" 
Hemenway as the Delegate to the Convention at Cambridge' 
''Mr. Lee, Esq. Batcheller, Lieut. Davis, Lieut. Allen and Jacob 
Estey were chosen a committee to give the Delegate instructions.' 

John Fry was elected Mr. Hemenway's substitute for the 
Convention of 1780. 

John Fry, Delegate at the Ratification of the Constitution 
of the United States in 1788. 

Royalston has furnished three State Senators, Joseph Esta- 
brook, who died during his term of office, 1828. 

Rufus Bullock, 1831 and 1832. 

Col. George Whitney, 1863 and 1864. 

Col. George Whitney in addition to representing the town in 

the Legislature, both in the House and Senate, was also a mem- 
ber of the Governor's Council for the years 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876 
and 1877, five consecutive years, when he declined to stand 
longer as a candidate for the office. The vote at the election 
in 1875, to serve in 1876, as recorded in the office of the Secretary 
of State is George Whitney, 24,318; scattering, 7. The vote 
at the election in 1876, to serve in 1877, recorded as above is 
George Whitney, 33.354, and no votes against him. It is doubt- 
ful if any other man in the Commonwealth has a like record 
of unanimity at any election where 30,000 or more ballots have 
been cast. 

Royalston has also furnished Worcester County with some 
of its most able and popular officers: Edward A. Brown was 
appointed Jan. 20, 1876, as County Treasurer to fill an unex- 
pired term of Charles A. Chase, who had resigned, and was 
re-elected at the expiration of each three years term of office 
until 1912, when he declined to be a candidate for another term. 
He served continuously for a period of thirty-six years, a longer 
time than any other Treasurer of Worcester County has ever 
served. 

William O. Brown was elected County Commissioner of 
Worcester County in 1868, and re-elected six times. He com. 



g2 HISTORY OF ROYALSTO>r 

pleted his t\rentr-first year of continuous service at the close of 
1889, only a few months before his death, when failin^j; health, 
compelled him to decline a re-election. He was chairman of the 
Board twelve years. 

During the Whig- times the voters of Royalston were largely 
in favor of the Whig Party. In the chapter on Royalston Red 
Letter Daiis there is an account of the great Whig celebration 
in 18-10. On the Fourth of July of the same year the Royalston 
Whigs turned out in large numbers to take part in a Fourth of 
July celebration by the Whigs in Barre. The Royalston banner 
had for its motto "Royalston avS she was in 76, she always has 
been." 

Reveue:—''T\\e wicked have drawn the sword and bent the 
bow, to cut down the poor and needy: but their sword shall enter 
their own heart, and their bow shall be broken " The banner, 
of the sister town of Warwick had for its motto, "Warwick — 
Harrison and Tyler — Davis and Hull, "We come to bury 
Loco Focoism, not to Praise it." 

Royalston had a flourishing Whig Association officered as 
follows: President, Rufus Bullock; vice-presidents, Stephen 
Batcheller, Benoni Peck, Russell Morse, Benjamin Brown, 
Otis Bemis; secretary, A. H. Bullock; directors, Barnet Bullock, 
George Pierce, Jonathan Gale, Joseph Raymond, Cyrus Da vis ^ 
W. N. Vose, Joseph Davis, Hezekiah Newton, Robert Thompson, 
Chester Bancroft, James Clark, Joseph Jacobs, Arba Sherwin, 
Winthrop Livermore, Ansel Howard, Benjamin Bragg, Benja- 
min Fry, Ebenezer Pierce. 

The Town of Royalston in regard to its political affiliations 
has been decidedly Federalist, Whig and Republican succes- 
sively as those political parties have existed, and the Democratic 
party and its doctrines have never gained any strong foothold 
in town. 

Perhaps the greatest upheaval in the politics of the town was 
the great Progressive movement of 1912, when Royalston for 
the first time in its history repudiated the Republican party and 
cast its vote in opposition to it, when many of the former leaders 
of the Republican party left it and enrolled themselves under 
the banner of Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive move- 
ment. 

At the first election after the adoption of the State Consti- 
tution, Sept. 4, 1780, Royalston's vote for Governor was John 



POLITICAL 83 

Hancock, Federalist, forty, with no votes in opposition, and 
;slie remained steadfast to the first Governor under the Constitu- 
tion, and one of her own early proprietors, during his candidacy 
for that office. At the election of 1784, His Excellency John 
Hancock had twenty-seven votes, with none in opposition.. 
At the election of the following year, 1785, for some reason 
which we have been unable to ascertain, only six votes were 
recorded as having been cast for Governor all of which were 
for John Hancock. In 1787 John Hancock had one hundred 
and fifteen votes and James Bowdoin had four. The last year 
of the candidacy of Governor Hancock, Royalston gave him 
forty-six votes to seven for his opponent, Samuel Phillips, Esq. 
At the election of 1795, Samuel Adams, Federalist, had forty- 
six votes and the opposition seven. In 1804 Caleb Strong, 
Federalist, received one hundred and eleven votes for Governor 
and Hon. James Sullivan, Democrat, nineteen. 

In 1810 Christopher Gore, Federalist, received one hundred 
and fifty-four votes to forty-three for Elbridge Gerry, Democrat- 
In 1816 Hon. John Brooks, Federalist, had two hundred and 
two votes, and Samuel Dexter the Democrat, forty-five. 

The vote for President from 18(30 to the present time has 
been as follows: 

1860— Lincoln, 229; Douglas, 18. 

1864— Lincoln, 249; McClellan, 23. 

1868— Grant, 225; Seymour, 21 

1872— Grant, 200; Greeley 4. 

1876— Hayes, 220; Tilden, 55. 

1880— Garfield, 216; Hancock, 45; Weaver, 2. 

1884— Blame, 176; Cleveland, 43; Butler, 7. 

1888— Harrison, 181; Cleveland, 56; Fiske, 14. 

1892— Harrison, 145; Cleveland, 58; Bidwell, 11. 

1898— McKinley, 155; Bryan, 14; Levering, 7. 

1900— McKinley, 114; Bryan, 20; Woolly, 6. 

1904— Roosevelt, 117; Parker, 20. 

1908— Taft, 98; Bryan 14, Hisgin 3; Chaffin, 3;. 

1912— Roosevelt, 80; Taft, 33; Wilson, 21. 

During the three years, of the candidacy of Alexander H. 
Bullock, Royalston's favorite son, for Governor, the town stood 
royally by the Republican candidate, not only for Governor but 
the entire ticket. At the election of 1865, Alexander H. Bullock, 



84 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

the Republican candidate for Governor, received one hundred 
and eighty votes, Couch, the Democratic candidate none. In 
1866 Alexander H. Bullock had two hundred and nine votes, 
and Benjamin F. Butler, one. All the other State and County 
officers had two hundred and eight votes and there were no 
opposition votes cast, while Capt. John G. Mudge of Petersham 
for Senator had two hundred and nine votes and no opposition. 
The next year, 1867, Alexander H. Bullock had two hundred 
and twenty votes and John Quincy Adams twenty-one. 



CHAPTER VIII 
EDUCATION 

The cause of Education and the schools have been carefully 
looked after by the people of Royalston from the verj^ first 
settlement of the town all through the years down to the present 
time, and few towns of its size in the old Commonwealth can 
show so large a list of their sons and daughters that have received 
a college education or attended the seminaries and academies 
of the land, and have gone forth as teachers, or entered into 
the ministry and learned professions. In the sale of Royalston 
territory, the General Court reserved one sixty-third part of the 
whole purchase for school purposes, and the purchasers, before 
they drew lots for themselves, set apart 520 acres for school land. 
The Hon. Isaac Royal, by his will, gave the town 200 acres 
more for school purposes, and thus we see that, from the first 
720 acres of the township was appropriated to the cause of 
popular education, while later in the history of the town, one of 
its honored citizens, Hon. Rufus Bullock, gave and bequeathed 
to the town by his will the sum of five thousand dollars, to be 
held and applied as a fund, the income of which shall be appro- 
priated and paid over for the benefit and use of Common Schools 
in said town. The first action of the town, in relation to schools 
was a vote taken in 1767 "to lease out the school land.'' Two 
years later it was voted "to sell the school land for as much as 
it will sell for; the principal to be a fund for schools, and the 
interest to be applied yearly to pay for schooling." In 1769, 
the first appropriation for schools was made when three pounds 
was raised to hire schooling that year. The same year the Select- 
men drew an order upon the town treasurer to pay Simeon 
Chamberlain, the sum of eighteen shillings, it being for two 
weeks schooling last February and March. The next year 
Capt. John Fry draws from the town treasury two pounds 
and ten shillings for five weeks school teaching. The same year 
John Crawford draws two pounds for one month, Simeon Cham- 
berlain one pound and s'xteen shillings for one month, and 
Isaac Esty four shill'ngs for boarding a "School Dame." In 



g(, HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

1771 Hannah Richardson received eighteen shillings and e'ght 
pence for teaching school seven weeks and boarding herself. 
In 1777 the town voted that 'the schoo money interest, and 
security be committed to the town Treasurer." 

Simeon Chamberlain, the first School Master of Royalston, 
came to Royalston from Douglas or Sutton, and was one of 
the very early settlers. He was a school master in Sutton and 
Douglas before coming to Royalston, and a great-great grandson 
living Jn Newport, N. H., has his original record of scholars 
in the schools he taught in Sutton, Douglas and Royalston. 
The Royalston record is as follows: "School Register 
kept by Simeon Chamberlain, School Master of Royalston, 
Mass., Royalston, February, ye 20th, 1769. When I came to 
the house of Widow Winship and began to lend school. The 
names of the scholars: 

John Fry Abjiah Richardson, 

Eliphalet Richardson, Jonas Livermore, 

Nathaniel Wheeler, Seth Wheeler, 

Simeon Chamberlain, Molly Carr, 

David Bruce, Sarah Rumbell, 

Solomon Babcock, Ketura Babcock, 

Percis Babcock, Alpha Barton, 

Ephraim Hill, Abagal Hil', 

Josia Bruce, Abagail Bruce, 

Thomas Ellyot, 
The following order drawn by the Selectmen upon the Town 
Treasurer was to pay for this school: 

"To Mr. Peter Woodbury, Town Treasurer : Please to pay to 
Simeon Chamberlain, the sum of eighteen shillings, it be'ng for 
two weeks schooling last February and March: and this shall 
discharge you for so much. 
Royalston, September ye 19th, 1709. 

BENJAMIN WOODBURY, 
£0: 18: 0. PETER WOODBURY, Selectmen 

Mr. Chamberlain's Register of the next winter, 1770, states 
that the school was again held at the house of. Widow Winship 
and gives a list of twenty-three scholars. The name of one of 
the scholars, Ketura Babcock, that appeared on the 1769. register 
does not appear on this one, for during the summer of 1769, 
Aug. 30, she was killed by lightning in her father's house at the 
age of fifteen years and eight days. 



EDUCATION 87 

The third register of Master Chamberhiin under date of 
Royalston, December, ye 28, 1772, says: "Then I came to Deacon 
Estey's and began to tend school." 

The names of the scholars that term were: Nathaniel Wheeler, 
Seth Wheeler, Elijah Walker, Moses Walker, Whitman Jacobs, 
Sarah Rumble, Phebe Grant, Eunice Grant, Eiias Metcalf, 
Micha Perry, Thaddeus Perry, Benjamin Perry, Betty Perry, 
Joseph Chamberain, Molly Chamberlain, Sarah Chamberlain, 
Molly Carr, Simeon Chamberlain, John Chamberlain, Abagail 
Chamberlain, Isaac Jones, Thankful Marsh, Waid Jones, 
Timothy R'chardson, Deborah Jones, Rhoda Jones. Most of 
these scho ars were not born in Royalston l)ut came to town 
with their parents. 

Up to this time there were no school houses, the schoo's 
be ng held in the dwellings and sometimes in the barns of the 
settlers. In 1777 there was an article in the town meeting 
warrant, "To see if the town will Iniild a school house as near 
the meeting house in Royalston as convenient; if not, to see, 
if the town, will give liberty to a number of the 'nhabitants, 
near the centre, to build a school-house in said place for their 
own benefit." The town decl'ned to build, but granted the 
hberty asked for. This building which was the first school- 
house in town was erected on the northeasterly line of the 
Common. Tradition gives the names of the first three teachers 
employed in this house. The first was a foreigner, by the name 
o" Wood, who was remembered for many years as being a 'very 
learned man." The second was Ammi Falkner, who was after- 
wards Deacon, Selectman and Assessor; the third was Ebenezer 
Pierce of Warwick afterwards deacon of the Baptist church. 

After the close of the war, in 178(3, the lot of land which had 
been set apart for schools by the first propr etors, and which 
had been leased out down to that day, was sold, and the proceeds 
of that sale are the foundation of the present school fund. 

Probably the first attempt to divide the schools into what 
we have known as districts was in 1777, when May 26 it was 
"Voted to Squadron out the Schools in said town and the money 
to be paid according to the proportion of said inhabitants." 
Under this vote chose Capt. Woodbury, Timothy Richardson, 
S meon Chamberlain, L'.eut Chase, Squadron C'ommittee for 
that purpose. 



8S 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 



The district" ng of the town proved a difficult problem, and 
was not adjusted until after several experiments. In 1781 the 
town was divided into six districts. One of these — the southwest 
— passed from the jurisdiction of Royalston in 1783 and became 
a part of Orange, leaving only five districts. In 1793 an attempt 
was made to re-district the town but the report of the committee 
was not accepted, and nothing was done until 1795 when at a 
town meeting held January 5 of that year, a committee was 
chosen consisting of Phillip Sweetzer, Nat. Bragg, Jonas Thomp- 
son, David Lyon, Jacob Estey, Dea. Bullock, Nathan Bullock, 

John Norton. 

This committee reported to the town May 1795, and their 
report was accepted as follows: ' 'We the subscribers being chosen 
a Committee at a legal Meeting of the Inhabitants of Royalston, 
Jan. 5, 1795 in order to district the town into School Districts, 
have agreed there shall be Nine Districts as follows : — 

FirsL ''T/ie Wesl Visfncr' io begin at the N. W. Corner 
of the Town, running S. to the corner of Orange, thence E. to 
Mr. White's W. Hue; thence northerly, the W. side of Jonathan 
Matthews house, so as to take in Lieut. Goddard's house ; 
thence northerly to Samuel Fuller's W. line; so on the State 
line; thence W. to the bound first mentioned. 

Second. ''The N. W. District to begin at Orange line, 
thence E. by said Orange, to Jacob Estey's S. E. corner; 
thence northerly to the E. of Daniel Warren's house, so on to 
the E. of Andrew Kendall's house: — so on till we strike the 
Brook that runs between Ebenezer Ingalls and Ebenezer Elan- 
ding's house: — so on said Brook till we strike the State line: — 
thence W. by Richmond line:— to the E. side of the West 
District. 

Third. '' West of the Pond Road District,'' to begin at the 
Baptist meeting house:— thence W. to the N. W. District line: 
— thence S. by said district to Orange line, still S. by said 
Orange line to Athol: — thence easterly on Athol line so as to 
take in Jonathan Kendall's lane — thence northerly to the vS. of 
the Pond: — thence to the N. end of the Pond: — thence W. Ut 
the said Meeting House. 

Fourth. ''Under the Hill District,'' to hegxn at the Baptist 
Meeting House: — thence W. on the line of the "W. of the Pond 
District," till it strikes Daniel Warren's land: — thence nor- 
therly bj- a line of the "N. W. District" to New Hampshire 



EDUCATION 89 

line: — tlience E. till it strikes Silas Heyvvood's W. line: — thence 
S. by Thomas Perry's W. line to Jacob Estey's S. line: — thence 
W. to the Long Pond: — thence N. W. to the Baptist Meeting 
House. 

Fifth. ''North District,'' ^.o begin at Silas Heywood's N. 
W. corner: — thence S. on the line of the "Under the Hill Dis- 
trict" to the S. W. corner of the farm formerly owned by Daniel 
Brown: — thence E. on the S. of said farm to the S. W. corner 
of Dea. John Frye's land: — thence northerly on said Frye's W. 
line to his N. W. corner: — thence E. to Lawrence Brook: — 
thence up said Brook to New Hampshire line: — thence on said 
line to the Bounds first mentioned. 

Sixth. ''South District,'' to begin at Lieut. William Ray- 
inond's N. W. corner: — ther.ce S. by the line of the district 
*'W. of the Pond" to Athol line: — thence easterly on Athol line 
till it strikes Daniel Woodbury's S. E. corner of the Home lot: 
— Jience N. till it strikes Capt. Jonathan Sibley's W. line: — 
thence on till we strike Lawrence Brook: — thence up the Brook, 
till we strike the S. E. corner of the "N. District": — thence on 
the S. line of the "N. District" to the bounds first mentioned. 

Seventh. ^^Soiith East District,'^ to begin at Daniel Wood 
bury's E. corner of the Howe Lot: — thence E. on Athol line to 
Thomas White's and: — thence N. to the Brook E. of Nathan 
Cutting's at the Bridge: — thence westerly as the road is now 
trod, to Lawrence Brook: — thence down said Brook to Capt. 
Jonathan Sibley's W. 1 ne: — thence S. to bound first mentioned. 

Eighth. "Arm District," to begin at the Bridge E. of Nathan 
Cutting's: — thence E. on the road to Winehendon line: — thence 
S. on Winehendon line to Templeton line: — -thence W. to Gerry 
line: — thence N. on Gerry and Athol lines to Thomas White's 
S. W. corner:— still northerly by the easterly Une of the "S. 
E. District " to the Br dge near Nathan Cutting's the first 
mentioned bounds. 

Ninth. ''North East District," to begin at the Bridge by 
Capt. Peirce's: — thence up the Brook to NewHampshire line: — 
thence E. by said New Hampshire line, to Winehendon line: — 
thence S. on Winehendon line to the Road that leads from W n- 
chendon to Roya'ston Meeting House, till it comes to the Bridge 
by Capt. Pierce's the Bounds first mentioned. 

These districts continued, with little variation down to 
1820. In 1797, as the result of much discussion, it was voted 



9f> HISTORY OF ROVALvSTCnsr 

to' build schoxd'houses in: the several schckol districts; and, that 
equal justice may be- rendered to individuals, as near as possible,, 
voted that the school-houses shall be built as- near the center 
of the districts as the situation of the inhabitants- and the roads: 
will admit, and that each district may agree on the spot. A. 
committee, consist'ng of Capt. Jonathan Sibley, Mr. Benj.. 
Hutchinson and Capt. Peter Woodbury, was chosen to lay 
before the town an estimate of the expense ofbuilding the several 
school-houses, and also to report the dimensions and method'; 
of finishing. This committee reported Feb, 2, 1797, but final 
action on the report was not reached until May 7th, 1798, when 
it was adapted and $1500 appropriated for the work. 

The plan of six of these houses was as fo'lows: twenty by 
twenty-four feet; nine and one-half feet stud; square roof; six 
windows each with fifteen seven by nine lights ; the inside walls 
ceiled; over head crowning and plastered; the seats round the 
walls on three sides and raised eight inches, and eighteen from the 
walls, with a good writing table before them and a shelf for 
books beneath; seats before the tables; an entrance way at one 
end of the house six feet wide; tw^o doors to enter the room; 
and the whole to be finished up in workmanlike manner and 
the outside painted. The three other houses differed only in 
dimensions. A committee consisting of one from each district 
was chosen to carry the vote of the town into effect. Three 
school-houses, that under the hill, in the north district, and in 
the Arm district — -were found of sufficient value to require an 
allowance to the proprietors. Thus the town secured nine 
commodious and respecta]:>le school-houses. 



EARLY SCHOOL COMMITTEES 

1800 Daniel Woodbury, John Holman, Joseph Manning, 
Nathan Read, Ephriam Whitney, James Forbes, 
Shubel Blanding, Jonathan Gale, Asahel Davis. 

1807 Jonathan Gale, Jonas Brewer, John Davis, Asa Walker, 

Thomas Bacheller, Ebenezer Cutler, Joel Taft, Jonathan 
Peirce, Isaac Piper. 

1808 Jonathan Gale, Joseph Davis, Levi Thurston, Jacob 

Metcalf, Ephriam Whitney, Benj. Hutchinson, Nathan 
Reed, Isaac Gregory, William Saunders. 



:eaki.t schoot. cot\oiitt:ees '91 

1809 Timothy Bliss, Jr., Andrew Kendall, Lemuel Whitney, 

John Chamberlain, Eliphalet Riehardson, Joseph 
Estabrook, Doct. Thomas Richardson, William Peirce, 
Capt. Enoch Whitmore. 

1810 Capt. David Fisher, Benjamin Davis, John Shepardson, 

Isaac Metcalf, Stephen Richardson, Rufus Bullock, 
David Taft, Tarrant Cutler, Furbush. 

1811 David Fisher, Benjamin Davis, Moses Walker, Henry 

Goddard, Silas Heywood, Stephen Bacheller, Jr., 
Robert Thomson, Paul Wheeler, Isaac Piper. 

1812 David Fisher, Russell Wheeler, Nathaniel Bragg, Jr., 

Isaac Metcalf, Moses Nichols, Isaac Prouty, Samuel 
Gregory, Benjamin Clark, Jr., Joseph Manning. 

1813 David Fisher, Joseph Davis, Thomas Jacobs, John 

Chamberlain, Thomas Bacheller, Joseph Beal, Stephen 
B. Bowker, Tarrant Cutler, Joseph Norcross. 

1814 David Fisher, Henry Goddard, Enos Metcalf, Russell 

Ballou, Doct. Stephen Bacheller, Silas Jones, Simeon 
Stockwell, Stephen Richardson, John Wood. 

At a town meeting held Aug, 15, 1814, it was voted 
to choose a School Committee and the following were 
elected to visit schools: Joseph Estabrook, Col. Salmon 
Goddard, Doc. Bachelder, Jr., Capt. Isaac Metcalf, 
Rufus Bullock, Dea. Amos Jones, Jr., Silas Heywood, Jr. 

1815 David Fisher, Benoni Peck, Daniel Shepardson, Daniel 

Woodbury, Jonathan Peirce, Uri Day, Rusell Morse, 
Willard Newton, Stephen Raymond, School Committee. 
Committee to inspect schools: Capt. Isaac Metcalf. 
Dea. Amos Jones, Col. Salmon Goddard. 

1816 David Fisher, Al)el Bliss, Simeon Jacobs, Benjamin 

Allen, Isaac Metcalf, Joseph Estabrook, Tarrant 
Cutler, Stephen Holman, Zenas Stone, School Com- 
mittee. Chose Isaac Metcalf, Salmon Goddard, Amos 
Jones, Jr., a Committee to inspect Schools. 

1817 David Fisher, Russell Wheeler, E. W. Dexter, William 

Chase, Nahum Goddard, Rufus Bullock, Amos Jones, 
Jr., Rufus Forbush, Ephriam AVhitne3% 

Also chose Isaac Gale, 2d, Samuel Bliss, Benoni 
Peck, Joseph Davis, 2cl, Asahel Davis, Thomas Jacobs, 
Isaac Gregory, Elmer Newton, Stephen Bacheller, Jr., 



92 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON" 

Joseph Estabrook, Jonathan Peirce, Josiah Wright^ 
Stephen Holman, Joseph Norcross, Silas Heywood, Jr., 
Zenas Stone, Jacob ]Metcalf and Joseph Jacobs a Com- 
mittee to inspect the schools and not receive any com- 
pensation therefor. 

1818 Samuel Bliss, Simeon Jacobs, Benjamin Brown, Joseph 

Jacobs, Thomas J. Lee, Judah Stockwell, Stephen 
Holman, John Norton, James Buffum, being one person 
in each school district to hire instructors. 

1819 Isaac Gale, 2d, John Burbank, Asa Walker, Joseph 

Estabrook, Silas Jones, Uri Day, Isaac Metcalf, Moses 
Garfield, Amos Whitney. 

1820 Alanson White, Thomas Jacobs, Jacob Metcalf, Franklin 

Gregory, Jonah Wheeler, Joseph Norcross, Russell 
Morse, Abel Bliss, Nathan Reed 

1821 Andrew Kendall, Esq., Simeon Jacobs, Enoch Metcalf, 

Asa Batcheller, Stephen Hale, Joseph Manning, Isaac 
Nichols, Squier Davis, WiUiam Chase. 

Voted to choose five persons to unite with Rev, 
Mr. Perkins in visiting the schools in this town for 
the year ensuing free of expense to the town, and 
Rev. Joseph M. Graves, Thomas J. Lee, Isaac Metcalf, 
Benoni Peck and William Peirce were chosen. 

1822 David Fisher, Heman Forbush, Nahum Goddard, 

Nathaniel Bragg, Tarrant Cutler, Reuben Stockwell, 
Russell Morse, Benoni Peck, Levi Harris, Ansel 
Heywood. Voted that these persons l)e chosen to 
unite with Rev. Mr. Perkins and Rev. Mr. Graves 
in visiting the schools in the town the ensuing year, 
and Thomas J. Lee, Joseph Davis, 2d, and Jonathan 
S. Pierce were chosen. Salmon Goddard was afterwards 
chosen one of the same Committee. 

1823 Samuel Bliss, Stephen Raymond, Jonas Bartlett, Stephen 

Richardson, Amos Heywood, John B. Walker, Stephen 
Batcheller, Jr., Stephen Holman, Jonas Brewer, John 
Wood were chosen School Committee for the several 
districts. Capt. Benoni Peck, Capt. William Peirce 
and Jonathan Peirce, were chosen visiting School 
Committee in conjunction with the two ministers. 



SCHOOL COMMITTEE FROM 1 845 93 

SCHOOL COMMITTEE FROM 1845. 

1845 Rev. Silas Kenney, Dr. Isaac P. Willis, Samuel D. Darling. 

1846 Rev. Silas Kenney, Dr. Isaac P. Willis, Samuel D. Darling. 

1847 Rev. Silas Kenney, Dr. Isaac P. Willis, Rev. N. A. Keys. 

1848 Rev. Silas Kenney, Rev. Norman Hazen, Rev. J. H. M. 

Leland. 

1849 Rev. Silas Kenney, Rev. Norman Hazen, Dr. Isaac P. 

Willis. 

1850 Rev. Silas Kenney, Rev. Norman Hazen, Rev. George 

Goodyear. 

1851 Rev. Silas Kenney, Rev. Norman Hazen, Rev. George 

Goodyear. 

1852 Rev. Silas Kenney, Dr. J. B. Gould, Dr. Issac P. Willis. 

1853 Rev. Silas Kenney, Dr. J. B. Gould, Rev. E. W. Bullard. 

1854 Rev. Silas Kenney, Dr. J. B. Gould, Rev. E. W. Bullard. 

1855 Rev. Silas Kenney, Dr. J. B. Gould, Rev. E. W. Bullard, 

1856 Rev. Silas Kenney, Dr. J. B. Gould, H. D. Newton. 

1857 Dr. Isaac P. Willis, J. W. Healey, John Wood, Adriel 

White, Cyrus Davis, J. M. Eaton, John N. Bartlett. 

1858 E. W. Bullard, I. P. Willis, J. B. Gould. 

1859 E. W. Bullard, I. P. Willis, J. B. Gould. 

1860 E. W. Bullard, I. P. Willis, Edwin, Seabury. 

1861 E. W. Bullard, I. P. WilUs, E. Seabury. 

1862 E. W. Bullard. I. P. Willis, T. C. Potter. 

1863 E. W. Bullard, L. Tandy, Robert T. Hancock. 

1864 E. W. Bullard, L. Tandy, F. D. Austin. 

1865 E. W. Bullard, Lorenzo Tandy, F. D. Austin. 

1866 E. W. Bullard, F. D. Austin, H. T. Hanks. 

1867 E. W\ Bullard, H. T. Hanks, F. D. Austin. 

1868 Rev. Charles Brooks, Dr. Henry 0. Adams, George F. 

Miller. 

1869 George F. Miller, A. C. White, Henry 0. Adams. 

1870 George F. Miller, Henry O. Adams, Luke E. Bemis. 

1871 George F. Miller, Henry O. Adams, Phillip H. Bliss. 

1872 George F. Miller, Phillip H. Bliss. Mrs. Almira H. French. 

1873 George F. Miller, Phillip H. Bliss, Mrs. Almira H. French. 

1874 George F. Miller, A. M. White. Mrs. Almira H. French. 

1875 H. W. Bliss, J. L. Merrill, Lyman Stone, Charles Forbes, 

C. C. Chapin, A. M. White, Silas Whipple, Mrs. M. M. 
Perkins, C. N. Stockwell, R. T. Hancock. 



9^ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

1876 Mrs. M. M. Perkins, C. C. Chapin, Lyman Stone, Caleb 

N. Stockwell, H. W. Bliss. 

1877 Mrs. M. M. Perkins, Charles Forbes, A. M. White, B. H. 

Brown, L. E. Bemis, Miss Emma L. Pierce, A. D. 
Raymond, R. R. Safford, Mrs. M. A. C. Adams. 

1878 R. R. Safford, A. M. White, L. E. Bemis, C. A. Higgins, 

B. H. Brown, A. D. Raymond, Emma L. Pierce. 

1879 B. H. Brown, Emma L. Pierce, A. D. Raymond, A. M. 

White, Mrs. M. A. C. Adams, R. R. Safford, C. A. 
Higgins. 

1880 B. H. Brown, Emma L. Pierce, Mrs. D. P. Clark, E. A. 

Carpenter, A. M. White, R. R. Safford. 

1881 B. H. Brown, Emma L. Pierce, E. A. Carpenter, Mrs. 

D. P. Clark, A. M. White, Daniel Davis. 

1882 B. H. Brown, Daniel Davis, A. M. White, E. A. Carpen- 

ter, L. E. Bemis, Emma L. Peirce. 

1883 B. H. Brown, C. W. Day, Joseph Walker, L. E. Bemis, 

Daniel Davis, A. M. White. 

1884 B. H. Brown, A. M. Wliite, C. W. Day, F. J. BUss, L. E. 

Bemis. 

1885 B. H. Brown, A. M. White, C. W. Day, F. J. Bliss, R. J. 

Walker, L. E. Bemis. 

1886 B. H. Brown, A. M. White, C. W. Day, F. J. Bhss, R. J. 

Walker, A. D. Raymond,. 

1887 B. H. Brown, A. D. Raymond, C. W. Day, A. M. White, 

F. J. Bliss, Rev. J. W. Shaw. 

1888 B. H. Brown, A. D. Raymond, Rev. Judson W. Shaw, 

C. W. Day, A. M. White, F. J. BHss. 

1889 B. H. Brown, A. D. Raymond, C. W. Day, F. J. Bhss, 

J. T. Nichols, C. C. Chapin. 

1890 B. H. Brown, A. D. Raymond, C. W. Day, James C. 

Longley, Calvin C. Chapin, Flora J. Butterworth. 

1891 B. H. Brown, A. D. Raymond, C. W. Day, Flora J. 

Butterworth, Calvin C. Chapin. 

1892 B. H. Brown, Calvin C. Chapin, Flora J. Butterworth, 

C. E. Wheeler, A. A. Hyatt, J. T. Nichols. 

1893 B. H. Brown, C. W. Day, L. E. Stewart, Mrs. J. S. Moore, 

J. T. Nichols. 

1894 L. E. Stewart, Mrs. J. S. Moore, H. O. Adams, W. H. 

Newton, J. T. Nichols. 



SCHOOL COMMITTEE 95 

1895 B. H. Brown, L. E. Stewart, Mrs. J. S. Moore, E. B. 

Hanson. 
1898 B. H. Brown, E. B. Hanson, Mrs. H. R. Moore. 

1897 F. J. Fairbanks, E. B. Hanson, Hattie R. Moore. 

1898 Francis J. Fairbanks, Henry 0. Adams, Hattie R. Moore. 

1899 Francis J. Fairbanks, Alfred R. Hale, Myron W. 

Sherwood. 

1900 Charles H. Brown, Myron W. Sherwood, Alfred R. Hale. 

1901 Charles H. Brown, Myron W. Sherwood, Alfred R. Hale. 

1902 Charles H. Brown, Myron W. Sherwood, Alfred R. Hale. 

1903 Charles H. Brown, Myron W. Sherwood, Alfred R. Hale 

1904 Charles H. Brown, Myron W. Sherwood, Alfred R. Hale. 

1905 Charles H. Brown, Myron W. Sherwood, Alfred R. Hale. 

1906 Charles H. Brown, Myron W. Sherwood, James A. Bates. 
1909 William A. Frye, Myron W. Sherwood, Fred W. Cross. 

1908 William A. Frye, Myron W. Sherwood, Fred W. Cross. 

1909 Charles E. Richardson, Myron W. Sherwood, Ernest F. 

Porter. 

1910 Charles E. Richardson, Myron W. Sherwood, Francis J. 

Fairbanks. 

1911 Charles E. Richardson, Eri S. Stewart, Francis J. 

Fairbanks. 

1912 Charles E. Richardson, Eri S. Stewart, Francis J. 

Fairbanks. 

1913 Charles E. Richardson, Eri S. Stewart, Nellie W. Farrar. 

1914 Charles E. Richardson, Eri S. Stewart, Nellie W. Farrar. 

1915 Charles E. Richardson, Eri S. Stewart, Nellie W. Farrar. 

Nellie G. W. Farrar, member of the school committee, is 
the wife of Walter N. Farrar. She was born June 9, 1871, at 
Chesterfield, N. H., daughter of Watson and Jennie (Thomas) 
Wheeler. She attended the public schools of Chesterfield and 
Hinsdale, N. H., and the Westfield Normal school. While at 
Westfield her mother died very suddenly, being sick only a 
few hours, and she went honie to be a companion for her father. 
He lived only three months, after which she went to Worcester, 
Mass., to live with her guardian, and worked in the office of 
William H. Burns until she was twenty-one, when she entered 
the training school for nurses at Fall River Hospital, where she 
established a reputation as one of the best nurses in either medi- 
cal or surgical cases, having nursed for the late Dr. Maurice 



C^(^ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Richardson, Ex-Mayor John Coughlin and other prominent 
physicians of the city. She served at the hospital as head nurse, 
and had full charge of the children's ward. She is much inter- 
ested in nursing and has on many occasions given a helping 
hand to the people of the village. She is a member of Themis 
Chapter, O. E. S., and of the Athol Woman's Club. In 1913 she 
was elected a member of the School Committee by a large vote. 
She married Walter N. Farrar Nov. 28, 1894. They have no 
children. 

Charles E. Richardson, chairman of the School Committee, 
He married May ,9 1901, Mabel Viola Hutchins, daughter of 
Francis J. and Margaret (Lyall) Hutchins of Royalston. They 
have two children, Clara Mabel, born May 14, 1905, and Charles 
Francis, born May 21,1 908. Mr. Richardson has been engaged in 
farming, being one of the progressive young farmersof the town, 
and is prominent in town affairs. He has been chairman of the 
School Committee since March, 1909, and is also a member of the 
Finance Committee. He has been a member of Royalston Grange 
for twenty-one years, has served as Master two years and Lecturer 
three years. 

Eri S. Stewart, member of the School Committee, was born 
in Royalston April 8, 1887, son of Luther Stewart. He attended 
the common schools of Royalston, graduated from the Athol 
High School in the class of 1905 and attended the Massachusetts 
Agricultural College one year. He has followed the occupation 
of a farmer, and has been active in town affairs, having served 
on the School Committee four years, constable three years, 
and is also inspector of dressed meat, and deputy Forest Fire 
Warden. He has also been Master of Royalston Grange three 
years. 

He married Bernice Hager, daughter of Arthur Hager of 
Athol, April 8, 1907. They have two children, a son and a 
daughter. 



HIGH SCHOOL EXHIBITION 

When the author of this History was searching for material 
in the State Library at the State House in Boston, and inquired 
if there was anything relating to the Town of Royalston in the 
library, there was brought to him a carefully preserved program 




CIIARLRS R. RICHARDSOiN 




LUTIIKR K. STKWART 



■HIGH SCHOOL EXHIBITION 



97 



♦of an Exhibition of the Royalston High School in 1852. We deem 
■this as worthy to be inserted in the History of Royalston as 
rshowing what the young ladies and gentlemen of more than 
sixty years ago were doing- The following is the program: 

Royalston High School Exhibition 
At the Town Hall 

W«dn€sday evening, Nov. 10, 1852. 

Exercises cemmencing at 6 1-2 o'clock 
Doors open at 6 
The proceeds of the Exhibition to be appropriated to defray- 
ing the expenses of a Course of Literary Lectures. 

Order of Exercises, 
Music 
1. Salutatory Oration in Latin, 

C. G. G. Fame 

2. Phillip's Letter to the Kinjg. 

A. Bryant 
Music 

3. The Present, Past and Future. 



Dramatic 


Antediluvism 


D. W. Adams 


Personal 


Millerite of 1852 


C. B. Willis 




Contemporaries 


Agent E. L. Parker 
Geologist S. H. Hey wood 




Ml 


usic 


4. Oration 




W\ W. Cobb 


5. Kossuth at Lowell 


E. Pierce 




M 


usic 


6. Spiritual Manifestation. 






Mrs. Scroogen 


Miss E. P. Brown 




Miss Tiddell 


Miss E. A. Davis 




Miss Heartall 


Miss S. L. Paine 


Dramatic 


Mrs, Hodges 


Mrs. S. S. Putnam 


Personal 


Mrs. Duncan 


Miss L. L. Bullock, 




Miss Goodrich 


Miss E. Davis, 




Miss Hampden 


Miss D. Perry, 




Miss Bradbury 


Miss M. A. Forrister, 




Miss Plimpton 


Miss M. E. Shepardson, 




Miss Davenport 


Miss E. A. Lyon, 




Miss Packing 


Miss G. Davis. 



98 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 



Mediums 


Miss Cromwell Miss S. L. Hohlen, 




Miss Alcult 


Miss M. J. Putnam, 




Miss Carlton 


Miss M. Walker, 




Mrs. Tyler 


Miss S. P. Bragg, 




Miss Lawton 


Miss S. E. Wheeler, 




Miss Fang 


Miss O. L. Hubbard, 




Miss Cutler 


Miss R. Willis, 




Mrs. Kidder 


Miss A. Woodbury. 
Music 


7. Oration- 


-Webster— W. 


C. Earle, 


8. Hatch at the Syra(;use. 






Women's I 


Rights Convention 




M. 


A. Wilson. 
Music 


9. The Right Ai'in 


B. Dexter. 


10. Recitat 


ion, 


Miss McLean. 



Music 

11. The Fallen Saved. 
Those taking part- : 

W. C. Earle, D. W. Adams, E. Davis, J. Chase, N. Holmiin, 

B. Dexter, W. W. Cobb, C. G. G. Paine, M. A. Wilson, D. Ray- 
mond, A. Ballou, D. Brooks, T. McLean, F. Bullock, C. Pierce, 

C. Hancock, S. H. Heywood, E. L. Parker, A. Da\is, Miss E. 
A. Davis, Miss E. R. Browne, Miss M. Walker, Miss M. Turner, 
Miss L. L. Bullock, Miss S. G. Peirce, Miss J. Cutler, Miss 
E. Biyant. 

Music 

12. Poem, T. McLean 

13. Oration and VaUnlictory Address, D. W. Adams. 

Music 



Great changes have taken place in the Schools of Royalston 
during the last sixty years as in every other thing connected 
with the town. As far as we have been aV)le to ascertain from 
any records there was probably the largest number of scholars 
in the schools of Royalston from about 1845 to about 1850. 
In 1849 there were four hundred and fifty-nine scholars, of 
whom ninety-seven were over fifteen years of age. In 1854 there 
were one hundred and forty-six scholars attending private 
schools in Royalston, and there was paid for the support of these 
schools Four Hundred and Seventy-five dollars. 



EDUCATION 99 

For quite a good many years in the middle of the last century 
the winter terms of the schools were taught by young men who 
came from some of the New England Colleges, and also by 
young men of Royalston, who had attended some of the old 
time Academies. Some winters more than half of the schools 
of the town were taught by these young men. Among the 
teachers of 1856 were: Henry Peck, Edward J. Flint, John 
Follet, Francis M. Lamb, A. J. Fisher and Jefferson K. Cole. 

In 1858 the list contained the names of Albert Bryant, 
Jefferson Richardson, H. D. Newton, Bela J. Jacobs, W. H. 
Knight, Percival B odgett, Robert T. Hancock and Samuel 
J. Storrs; of these all but three were Royalston young men: 
Storrs was from Amherst College, Percival Blodgett from Orange 
and Knight from Brattleboro, Vt 

In 1860 the male teachers were: Lyman Walker, of Thetford, 
Vt.; H. C. Bennett, Rindge, N. H.; Jay Davis, Royalston; 
Robert T. Hancock, Royalston; W. F. Leonard, Warwick; 
H. O. Howe, Gill; A. F. Pierce, Royalston; and G. A. Miller, 
Woodstock, Vt. 

In 1872 there was only one male teacher who taught in town, 
Alfred D. Clifford, of PhiUipston, who taught the North East 
School. In 1873 the male teachers were L. B. Caswell at South 
Royalston, Harlan P. Townsend at the Centre, Alfred D. Clifford 
in the North East District and Phillip H. Bliss and Arthur A. 
LTpham. 

L. B. Caswell also taught the South Royalston School in 
1874, and the Centre School in 1875, and had in each of these 
schools twenty-two scholars over fifteen years of age, while in 
1914 there were only three scholars over fifteen years of age 
in all the schools of the town. 

In 1838, of the twenty-one teachers employed in the schools, 
seventeen be onged in Royalston, while in 1913, of the eight 
teachers in town, only one be'onged to Royalston. 

After several years of agitation in regard to the subject, the 
School District system was abolished in 1867. 

SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS 

In March, 1889, the town voted to unite with the towns of 
Templeton, Hubbardston and PhiUipston in the employment of 
a Superintendent of Schools. A joint convention was held at 



100 HISTORY OF ROYALSrONT 

Baldwinville, consisting of the Committee from Royalston'' 
Hubbardston, Phillipston and Templeton. Percival Blodgett^ 
of Templeton, was elected Chairman and Rev. M. H. Hitchcock, 
of Hubbardston, Secretary. A superirrtendent was elected, and 
on the basis of the averagre attendance in each to\Yn, one-half 
of his time was to be devoted to Templeton, orre-tenth, to Phillip- 
ston, one-fifth to Hubbardston, and cme-fifth to Royalston, 
Each town was to pay its proportionate part of the expense, 
and at the end of the year receive the same proportionate part 
of the State's gift of SIOOO to the d'strict. The first Superinten- 
dent of this district was Randall J. Condon, who served in 1889* 
and 1890; E. J. Edmonds, 1892, 1893; W. Scott Ward, 1894,. 
1895, 1896; Charles E. Putney, 1897 to 1901; F. G. Atwell, 1901 
to 1907 inclirsive; Alberto W, Small, to 10081910, inclusive- 
Asa M. Jones, the present superintendent, has held the position 
gince 191 1. He was born in Unity, Me., graduated from Colby 
College, taught school several years in Vermont and became 
Superintendent of the Charlemont, Mass., District in 1908^ 
from which place he came to the Royalston District in 191 1. 

The former Superintendents are all engaged in educational 
work at the present time as follows: Randall J. Condon is now 
Superintendent of the Schools of Cincinnati, Ohio; W. Scott 
Ward is Superintendent of the Athol schools; E. J. Edmonds 
has a teachers' agency in Boston; C. E. Putney 's Superintendent 
of the Schools of Burlngton, Vt.; F. J. Atwell, in Hopedale, 
Mass.; and Alberto W. Small, in Chelmsford, Mass. 

The standing of a community in regard to education can 
be found in the sons and daughters who have graduated from the 
colleges and professional schools of the land and entered the 
learned profe sions or have become teachers in the schools and 
higher institutions of learning. 

The list of the mitive born of Rx^yalston who have graduated 
from college is unusually large for a town of its size. 

COLLEGE GRADUATES 

George Newton, Esq. Dartmouth 1808 

Samuel Barrett Harvard 1818 

Franklin Jones Amherst 1829 

Asahel Peck University of Vermont 1830 

Rev. Sidney Holman Williams 1830 



J 



COLLEGE GRADUATES 



101 



Alexander Hamilton Bullock 
Prof. Nelson Wheeler 
Rev. Jesse K. Bragg 
Stephen Holman 
Rev. Ariel E. P. Perkins 
Hosea Davis 
Caleb B. Metcalf 
Rev. Amory Gale 
George B. Newton 
Leonard L. Leathe 
Rev. E )enezer Cutler 
R?v. Henry Cummings 
Isaac Stevens Metcalf 
Hon. Benjamin C. Perkins 
Benjamin S. H. Brown 
J. Ormond Wilson 
Samuel C. Gale, Esq. 
Charles A. Gregory, Esq. 
Henry M. Harrington, 
Charles G. G. Paine 
Rev. Albert Bryant 
William Clark Peckham 

Hamilton S. Peck 

Everett B Bragg 

John V. Hazen 

Samuel Augustus Fiske 

Arthur C. Brown 

Jenner Morse 

Mary E. Raymond 

Albert W. Merram 

Mabel Winifred Adams 

Fred Wilder Cross 

Florence Shepardson 

Walter F. Ellis 

Berhta Winifred Clark 



Amherst 1836 

Yale 1836 

Amherst 1838 

WilHams 1839 

Amherst 1840 

Dartmouth 1842 

Yale 1842 

Brown University 1843 

Yale 1843 

Amherst 1843 



Joseph Frederick Perkins 
Robert Winthrop Adams 
Lena May Bowker 



University of Vermont 1845 
Amherst 1847 

Bowdoin 1847 

Dartmouth 1848 

Harvard 1850 

Dartmouth 1850 

Yale 1854 

Harvard 1855 

Amherst I860 

Amherst 1861 

Amherst 1862 

Amherst 1867 

University of Vermont 1870 
Mass. Agricultural 1875 
Dartmouth (Scientific) 1875 
Yale 1877 

Harvard 1879 

Ann Arbor 1883 

Smith 1891 

Worcester Polytechnic 1896 
Cornell University 1899 
Williams 1900 

Smith 1900 

Harvard 1900 

Geo. Washington 

University 1900 
Williams 

Worcester Polytechnic 1904 
Mt. Holyoke 1908 



102 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Carl Shepardsou Brown I'niversity 1908 

Charles Watson Bowker, Jr. Dartmouth 1911 

There is also a good list of natives of Royalston who entered 
College but for various reasons did not complete their college 
course. 

Daniel Shepardson was two years at Amherst College and 
two years at Brown University, but did not graduate from either. 
He received the honorary of degree M. A. from Granville Col- 
lege in 1850, and Brown University in 1853, also the honorary 
degree of D. D. from Bushnell University in 1872. 

Rev. T. Willard Lewis was at Union College three years, 
Rufus Henry Bullock was at Amherst College in 1838 and 1839. 
but did not graduate. 

Daniel C. Perkins was at Amherst College 2 1-2 years in 
the Class of 1849, and graduated from Harvard Medical College 
in 1850. 

Ephraim Richardson had nearly completed a college course 
when he died. 

Eri S. Stewart was at the Massachusetts Agricultural College 
one year. 

John F. Lehy was two years at Holy Cross College 1872 to 
1874. 

Sarah A. Drury was at the University of Chicago three years. 

Dr. Andrew Jackson Flagg graduated from the Philadelphia 
Medical College, and Dr. Leander Smith from the Medical 
department of Dartmouth College in 1834. 

Dr. Walter H. Adams graduated from the Medical Depart- 
ment of the University of the City of New York in 1889. 

Joseph Henry Shepardson was at Waterville College, now 
Colby College, Maine, one year in the Class of 1859, and Lucius 
Franklin Shepardson was at the same college for one year in the 
Class of 1858. 

Mary E. Raymond after graduating at Wheaton Seminary, 
now Wheaton College, graduated at Smith College in 1891, 
took her B. A. degree at Radcliffe College in 1895, and M. A. 
degree at Smith in 1896, and then took special work at the 
University of Berlin. 

Carrie W. Raymond graduated at Wheaton Seminary. 

Geoffrey B. Leh}^ was one year at Holy Cross College. 



COLLEGE GRADUATES 103 

Harlan Mackenzie graduated at Gushing Academy and was 
two years in Col])y College, and Bessie Mackenzie, after graduat- 
ing from Gushing Academy, was two years in Simmons Gollege. 

Sarah L. Paine was a student at Mount Holyoke Seminary. 

Royalston's list of graduates from the State Normal Schools 
is also worthy of mention. 

Mary E. Paine Salem Normal School 1864 

Ellen A. Paine Salem Normal School 1864 

Susan F. Drury Westfield Normal School 

Edwin Augustus Fisher Westfield Normal School 1870 
Emma Jane Hale Bridgewater Normal School 1873 

Arthur A. Upham Westfield Normal School 1880 

Myra A. Safford Bridgewater Normal School 1883 

George Newton of the Glass of 1808, Dartmouth Gollege, 
was born in Royalston Jan. 16, 1785, a son of Nathan Brigham 
and Mary (Stewart) Newton. He began the practice of law at 
Salem, and removed to Royalston in 1816, where he died June 
G, 1817, at the age of thirty-two years. He was the first native 
of Royalston to graduate from Gollege of which we have any 
record. 

Nelson Wheeler, originally Lord Nelson Wheeler, son of 
Paul and Phoebe (Hill) Wheeler, was born in South Royalston 
Oct. 24, 1813. He graduated at Yale Gollege in the Glass of 
1836. After graduation he taught in the New Haven Hopkins 
Grammar School, and in Townshend, Vermont; he then spent 
some time in the study of Hebrew in the Newton Theological 
Seminary, though not expecting to enter the ministry. On 
April 24, 1839, he married Rebecca, daughter of Hon. Rufus 
and Sally (Davis) Bullock of Royalston. For the following year 
he taught in Plainfield, New Jersey, and then became Principal 
of the Worcester, Mass., Manual Labor High School, which-was 
maintained by the Baptist denomination. By excessive labor 
in superintending this institution he contracted the pulmonary 
disease which finally ended his life. Li 1847 he was made 
Principal of the Worcester High School, and so continued until 
1853, when he was appointed Professor of Greek in Brown Uni- 
versity. He accepted this position, l^ut in 1854 was attacked 
with hemorrhage of the lungs. After a brief trip to the South, 
he returned to his birthplace to await his end, and died there 
Aug. 25, 1855, in his 42d year. 



10^ HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

He had three sons, one of whom died in infancy. The youngest 
son was a member of the Class of 1872, in Yale but was 
graduated at Brown University. 

George Brigham Newton, son of Willard and Phoebe (Emer- 
son) Newton, was born at Royalston, Mass., Dec. 1, 1816. He 
graduated at Yale College in 1843. For two years after graduat- 
ing he resided at Brattleboro, Vt., engaged in teaching, and the 
following year was Professor of Mathematics in La Grange College, 
Ky. He was then principal of a high school for young men in Louis- 
ville, Ky. In 1855 he established a school for young men in 
Georgetown, Pettis County, Mo., of which he continued in 
charge until it was closed by the Civil War. Some years later he 
opened a high school in Marshall, Mo., where he taught until a 
few years before his death. He died in Marshall suddenly of 
apoplexy, Nov. 11, 1892, in his 76th year. He married in Brattle- 
boro, Vt., April 1, 1846, Louise, daughter of Ira and Jemima 
(Ward) Haven, and had five daughters and four sons. 

Rev. Sidney Holman, class of 1830, Williams College, was 
born at Royalston in 1800. He studied theology at Auburn, 
N. Y., and was settled as pastor of churches at Saugus, Willing- 
ton, Conn., Webster, Mass., where he was the first pastor of 
the First Congregational Church organized in 1838, Millbury, 
where he was also the first pastor of the West Millbury Congre- 
gational Church over which he was pastor from July, 1840, to 
June, 1851. He was also acting pastor at Goshen and Windsor. 
He was married in 1833 to Myra Fisher, of Terapleton, by 
whom he had five children, of whom the eldest, Thomas, died 
in the service of his country in 1802. 

Franklin Jones, son of Anna and Lephe (Estabrook) Jones, 
was born in Royalston Aug. 9. 1801. He fitted for college at 
Kimball Union Academy, Meridan, N. H., and graduated from 
Amherst College in 1829; took a course at the Andover Theologi- 
cal Seminary, and in 1832 founded the Bowling Green Female 
Seminary in Kentucky of which he was the Principal from 1832 
to 1846. He died in BowHng Green, Ky., Aug. 16, 1846. 

Married Sept. 11, 1833, Mary, daughter of Edward Kendall 
of Westminster. They had six children. 

Rev. Jesse Kendall Bragg, son of Nathaniel and Polly 
(Kendall) Bragg, was born in Royalston Oct. 11, 1811. He 
fitted for college at Westminster and Leicester Academies and 



COLLEGE GRADUATES " 105 

graduated from Amherst College in 1838. Was at Union Theo- 
logical Seminar}' from 1838 to 1841, and was ordained at 
Middleboro, Mass., Sept. 13, 1842, where he was pastor from 

1842 to 1851, Brookfield 1851 to 1860, at Sandwich 1861 and 
1862, at Harrisville, N. H., one year. He was Associate Editor 
of the Boston Recorder 1862 to 1864, pastor in Boston 1864— 
1868, and was in Norfolk the remainder of his life, where he died 
June 14, 1874, from typhoid fever, followed by softening of 
the brain. He married Oct. 13, 1844, Maria H., daughter of 
Col. William Buttrick, of Pepperell, Mass., she died March 13, 
1859. He married, second, Dec. 25, 1861, Catherine B., daugh- 
ter of Enoch H. Pillsbury of Nashua, N. H. They had five 
children. 

Leonard Lorenzo Leathe, son of Benjamin and Pauline 
(Chase) Leathe, was born in Royalston Dec. 12, 1816. He 
fitted at Appleton Academy, New Ipswich, N. H., and graduated 
from Amherst College in 1813. He was a Colporteur in the ser- 
vice of the American Tract Society in the Mississippi Valley, 

1843 to 1845, and died from brain fever at Panola, Miss., July 
7, 1845, unmarried. 

Samuel Barrett was born in Royalston Aug. 16, 1795, and 
graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1818. He was 
the son of Benjamin and Betsey (Gerrish) Barrett, and through 
his long and faithful ministerial labors reflected honor on his 
native town. He was settled many years as pastor of the 
Twelth Congregational Unitarian Society of Boston, and re- 
ceived in 1847, the degree of Doctor of Divinity from his Alma 
Mater. He married Sept. 11, 1832, Mary Susan, daughter 
of the eminent Dr. Greenwood of Boston, and died in Roxbury, 
June 24, 1866. 

Bertha Winifred Clark was born in West Royalston, Mass., 
June 6, 1875, daughter of Rev. Albert Vinton and Harriet 
(Baker) Clark. She was educated in the Hamilton, N. Y., 
public schools, Colgate Academy, Silas Neff School of Oratory, 
Columbian (now George Washington) University, where she 
graduated in 1900, and in Summer School of Cornell University. 
She taught one year in Nashville, Freedman Schools, in Govern- 
ment Indian School at Beauleau, Minn., several years, then 
spent a year in Haseltine House, Newton Centre, Mass., training 
for foreign mission work in 1907. Went to Rangoon, Burmah> 



106 HISTORY OF ROVALSTON 

and tauoht four years, ])eing then transferred to her present 
position as Missionary at Bhamo, Burmah. 



THE LIBRARIES OF ROYALSTON 

From an early record book discovered within a few years it 
seems very probable that the town of Royalston was one of the 
very first towns of Worcester County to organize a Library. 
Whitney's history of Worcester County, published in 1793, says 
that "Social Libraries" were common in Massachusetts towns 
at the close of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth 
centuries. It states that twelve towns in Worcester County, a 
Ust of which it gives, had such lil)raries in 1793, but does not 
mention Royalston, although one had been established in this 
town in 1778, fifteen years previous to the date, and only thirteen 
years after the town was incorporated. This record book re- 
ferred to was found in the family archives of George E. Pierce, 
his father having been the last secretary of that organization. 
The library was founded, according to this old record, in January, 
1778, and its supporters were orgmized as "The Library Company 
in Royalston," the name being changed to the "c503ial Library 
of Royalston" several yeirs liter. It wis in existence seventy- 
one years, dissolving in 1819. Its line of presidents to he close 
of the century were: Jonah Go Id.ird, Lieut. Oliver Work, John 
Batchelder, Isaac Gregory and Jonathan Sibley. Its secretary 
and librarian during tliis period was Rev. Joseph Lee. Its 
treasurers were: Lieut. Jonas Allen, Dea. Ammi Faulkner, 
Isaac Gregory and Jonithan Pierce. On its standing committee 
besides the nim33 already m3ationei were the names of Henry 
Bond, William Clements, Dr. Batchelder, Silas Heywood, 
Capt. Peletiah Metcilf, Nathan B. Newton and William Brown. 
The library was opsa for drawing and returning books six times 
a year, always on the Wedaesdiy preceding the second Sabbaths 
in the months of Januiry, Mirch, Miy, July, September and 
November; at 2 p. m., in Januiry and November; at 4 p. m.,in 
March and September; and 5 p. m., in May and July. The 
mmner of supporting the library is shown by act on taken at 
a meeting held Miy 7, 1778, viz. : "Voted to raise money or other 
propsrty for the purpose of increasing the library. Voted that 
eich an:l every mB.nbsr for this purpose pay into the treasury 



LIBRARIES OF ROYALSTON « 107 

two shi ling!^ in money, or grain, butter, flax or flaxseed. And at 
a later meeting, Jan. 1, 1789, tlie committee reported that in 
the'r judgment, rye sliould be received at three shillings, six 
pence per bushel; Indian corn at two shillings, eight pence; 
oats at one shilling, six pence; flax at six pence, per pound; 
flaxseed at two shillings, six pence per Inishel, and Ijutter at 
five pence, half penny per pound.' 

No catalog of the books in this lil)rary has come own to us, 
V)ut it is known that at least 487 volumes were in the collection. 
It is interesting to know what the intellects of the Royalston 
fathers and mothers were fed and fattened on, and this is shown 
in a vote of the Society passed March 7, 1787, viz.; "Voted that 
the money laid out for books, being divided into ten equal 
parts, be laid out for l)ooks upon different subjects in the follow- 
ing proportion, viz;.; Three-tenths parts for books in Divinity 
and Moral Philosophy; three-tenths for History and Biography; 
two-tenths for Arts and Sciences; one tenth for Law and Physic; 
one-tenth for Poetry, Novels and miscellany." 

The people of Royalston must have had great appetite for 
the literature of that day, for while other towns had only one 
social library, Royalston had two. We learn this from an article 
in a library warrant po-^ted Feb. 25, 1817, which reads as follows; 
"To hear and act on the report of the committee appointed to 
confer with a committee of the second social library concerning 
the admission of members from that Hbrary." The action of 
this article was favorable and eighteen members of the second 
social lil)rary were admitted. The Social Library voted to 
divide its books Jan. 10, 1849, and not long after that date the 
books were sold at auction and the lil^rary went out of existence. 

In 1812, the Legislature enacted a law that when any school 
distr ct in the Commonwealth should raise S15 for a library, 
the same amount should be drawn from the State treasury and 
a collection of books judicious'y selected ]:)y the State authorities 
should at once be forwarded to the district. Under this arrange- 
ment School libraries were est blished in the Centre the Doane's 
Falls d strict, the City, so-called. Baptist Common and the 
Cutler district. In the latter John N. Bartlett was librarian 
and custodian for several years. In the west part of the town, 
a library half Sunday school and half secular, was given and 
supported for fifteen years by Joel Gates Ijy annual remittances 



108 . HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

during his lifetime and since his death by the revenue o' a legacy 
of $2000 under his will. 

The Public Librarj^ of Royalston as it exists today, had its 
origin in the Ladies' Benevolent Society, an organization which 
was founded in 1824, and has had an enviable record in member- 
ship and good works. The members of this Society early recog- 
nized the need of a public library in the community. To Mrs. 
George Woodbury, the honored secretary of the Society for many 
years, must be given the credit of the first suggestion of working 
for this object. After careful consideration they finally voted 
in January, 1874, to embark in the enterprise. The methods 
adopted for raising funds were private subscriptions, farmers' 
suppers, sociables, lectures and entertainments of various kinds. 
After good progress had been made by the ladies, Joseph Ray- 
mond promised that when their fund had reached the sum of 
$250 he would add to that amount $250 more. This was soon 
accomphshed and as many books as $500 would purchase were 
soon placed on their shelves and the ibrary was opened Oct. 10, 
1874, with 434 volumes. The Royalston Farmers Club had 
contributed the'r library of 60 volumes to help make up the 
number. The library remained under the management of 
the ladies till 1880, when it was formally accepted by the town, 
and since that date has been liberally supported by the town. 

In 1898 a delivery station was established in South Royalston 
the town paying the expense of transportation and care of the 
books. 

At the March town meeting in 1910 it was announced that 
Mr. Phinehas S. Newi^on, a native and life-long resident of the 
town, would give the town the sum of $10,003 for the building 
of a public library provide:! the town would procure a suitable 
site. 

A committee consisting of L. G. Forbes, E. B. Hanson and 
L. B. Shepardson was chosen, and after investigating various 
locations it was finally decided that the best place was at the 
corner of the lot owned by WiUiam H. Hill of Brookline. Mr. 
Hill later donating the lot in memory of his wife, and work was 
begun in August of that year, and was completed in May, 1911, 
the dedicating exercises being held June 28, 1911. The building 
is of red brick with brown sandstone trimmings 50 by 36 feet, 
with one story, basement and attic and is a fine addtion to the 
Common. The number of books in the library Jan. 1, 1916, was 




PHINEHAS S. NEWTON PUBLIC LIBRARY 






MISS ELIZABETH WAITE CHASE MRS. EMELINE (WHITE) MACKENZIE 



LIBRARIES OF ROYALSTON 109 

3,927. Mrs. Emeline (White) Mackenzie has been the popular 
and efficient librarian of the Phinehas S. Newton library since 
Sept. 1 1897. She was born Aug. 13, 1857, at Winchendon, 
moved to Royalston at an early age, and received her 
education in the schools of Royalston; she then taught school 
in several of the districts of the town commencing in 1876, 
and continuing for five years. She married Colin Mackenzie, 
Sept. 20, 1880. 

Elizabeth Waite Chase, who served as librarian of the 
Royalston Public Library from the date of its acciuisition by 
the town in 1881 until her death in 1896, is remembered by the 
townspeople as a faithful custodian to whom the library was 
the object of the most absorbing interest and affection. Her 
love for the library manifested itself in the scrupulous care 
which she bestowed upon the books, and in the quiet and deco- 
rum which she exacted of youthful patrons during library hours. 
She was born in Boston Sept. 14, 1837, daughter of Chauncey 
and Caroline (Morse) Chase, and removed with her family 
to Royalston in 1859. She died in Royalston Dec. 14, 1896. 

Maria L. Bragg officiated as librarian from Nov. 1, 1896, to 
Sept. 1, 1897, and the names of Emma L. Pierce and Miss Hattie 
Walker appear as having been librarians for a short time. 



The Trustees of the Public Library since it was accepted 
by the town in 1881 hiive been as follows: 

1881 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Dr. Henry 0. Adams, Alfred D. 

Raymond. 

1882 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Dr. Henry O. Adams, Alfred D. 

Raymond. 

1883 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Dr. Henry O. Adams, Alfred D. 

Raymond. 

1884 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Dr. Henry O. Adams, Alfred D. 

Raymond. 

1885 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Alfred D. Raymond, Jeremiah A. 

Rich, 
1883 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Alfred D. Raymond, Jeremiah A. 

Rich. 
1887 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Alfred D. Raymond, Jeremiah A. 

Rich. 



110 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 



1888 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Alfred D. rjaymond, Jeremiah A' 

Rich. 

1889 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Alfred D. Raymond, Jeremiah A. 

Rich. 

1890 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Alfred D. Raymond, Jeremiah A. 

Rich. 

1891 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Alfred D. Raymond, Jeremiah A. 

Rich. 

1892 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Alfred D. Raymond, Jeremiah A. 

Rich. 

1893 Di\ Frank W. Adam^, Alfred D. Raymond, Jeremiah A. 

Rich. 

1894 Dr. Frank W. Adim-;, Alfred D. Raymond, Jeremiah A. 

Rich. 

1895 Dr. Frank W. Adam-i, Jeremiah A. Rich, Rev. F. J. 

Fairbanks. 
1893 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Jeremiah A. Rich, Rev. F. J. 
Fairbanks. 

1897 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Jeremiah A Rich, Rev. F. J. 

Fairbanks. 

1898 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Jeremiah A. Rich, Rev. F. J. 

Fairbanks. 

1899 Dr. Frank W. Adams. Jeremiah A. Rich, Rev. F. J. 

Fairbanks. 

1900 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Rev. F. J. Fairbanks, Caleb W. 

Day. 

1901 Dr. Frank W. Adams, Rev. F. J. Fairbanks, Caleb W. 

Day. 

1902 Frank W. Adams, Caleb W. Day, Francis J. Fairbanks. 

1903 Caleb W. Day, Francis J. Fairbanks, Frank W. Adams. 

1904 Francis J. Fairbanks, Calel^ W. Day, Frank W. Adams. 

1905 Frank W. Adams, Caleb W. Day, Francis J. Fairbanks. 
1905 Caleb W. Day, Francis J. Fairbanks, Frank W. Adams. 

1907 Francis J. Fairbanks, Frank W. Adams, Caleb W. Day. 

1908 Frank W. Adams, Caleb W. Day, Francis J. Fairbanks. 
1939 Francis J. Fairbanks, Frank W. Adams, Caleb W. Day. 

1910 Francis J. Fairbanks, Frank W. Adams, Caleb W. Day. 

1911 Frank W. Adams, Caleb W. Day, Francis J. Fairbanks. 

1912 Francis J. Fairbanks, Frank W. Adams, Levens G. Forbes. 

1913 Frank W. Adams, Levens G. Forbes, Francis J. Fairbanks. 

1914 Frank W. Adams, Levens G. Forbes, Francis J. Fairbanks. 

1915 Frank W. Adams, Levens G. Forbes, Francis J. Fairbanks. 



POST OFFICES 111 

POST OFFICES 

One of the Postmaster Generals in his report has said, "there 
is nothing which more deeply interests every, man, woman 
and child in this country of ours, than the safe handling of 
correspondence." The post-office in every city, town, village 
or hamlet, whether enclosed in the walls of a public building, or 
crowded into a corner of a country store has a great attraction 
for old and young, who with eager expectancy seek for their 
letters and papers, and "going to the post-office" has been one 
of the regular dut es and habits of the people. 

When Royalston was incorporated as a town in 1765, Boston 
was the only regular post-office in Massachusetts, and iists of 
letters were advertised n the Boston Neivs Letter for all parts of 
the State. 

To receive their mail people depended on market-men or 
private parties who on visiting Boston would call for the letters 
and deliver them on their return trip. In 1793 the nearest 
post-offices to Royalston were at Worcester and Greenfield. 
The Fitchburg post-office was estatilished in 1811, only one year 
before that of Royalston, and the Athol post-office was estab- 
lished Oct. 1, 1802, when a post-master bearing the same name of 
Joseph E?tabrook as the first post-master of the Royalston office, 
was appointed, the Athol post-master being the Rev. Joseph 
Estabrook, the second minister of Athol. In these days of quick 
and easy means of transportation and communication we can 
hardly realize what travel meant to the early settlers of Royal- 
ston. The condition of roads was such as to render travelling 
slow, difficult and dangerous. The mails were transportetl, 
as almost all passing was performed, on horseback; and a journey 
of one hundred miles was a matter of greater preparation, appre- 
hension and toil than a trip of three thousand miles at the pre- 
sent day. Not until 1761, was there any kind of public conveyance 
put on the roads out of Boston. 

Governor Bullock in describing the early mail facilities of 
Royalston, in his Centennial address, says: "Once a week our 
portl}^ fellow citizen of that time, Jonathan Pierce, drove the 
po3t and carried the mail l)etween Worcester and Keene through 
Royahton, bringing to us the weekly papers, the regular politics, 
the more distant gossip, and helping us along generally in our 
conformity with the outside world. This mission commencing 



112 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

about the year 1800, he performed nearly a quarter of a century." 
The rates of postage in the early part of the nineteenth 
century were enormous as compared with the present time. 
The rates were six cents for less than 30 miles, 10 cents for eighty 
miles, twelve and one-half cents for one hundred miles. 

The Post Office at Royalston was established April 1, 1812, 
with Joseph Estabrook as the first postmaster. Those who have 
held the office since with the date of appointment are as follows: 
Franklin Gregory, Aug. 22, 1823; George Blodgett, Sept. 10, 
1836; Stillman Blodgett, Sept. 29, 1836; Joseph Estabrook, 
Dec. 22, 1836; C. Robert Wood, Jr., Feb. 1, 1840; Charles A. 
Bullock, June 15, 1841; Joseph Estabrook, Nov. 12, 1846; 
Charles H. Newton, Nov. 17, 1856; Obadiah Walker, April 4, 
1870; John L. King, Dec. 14, 1881; Aurin C. Gordon, July 17, 
1882; George W. Blandin, July 22, 1885; Sumner C. French, 
March 12, 1900. 



CHAPTER IX 
MEDICAL PROFESSION 

Few country towns have been blessed with such a roll of 
able and distingu'shed physicians as has Roj'alston from the 
first settlement of the town, down through the generations to 
the present time; whi'e many Sons of Royalston have gone out 
and made for themselves an honored name in the profession in 
various parts of the country. 

THE DOCTORS BACHELLER 

The Doctors Bacheller, father and son, were held in high 
repute throughout the State. 

D)\ Stephen Bacheller, Sen., was the first physician of the 
town establishing himself here in 1768, when this whole region 
was almost an entire wilderness, and remained here down to 
the time of his death, in 1829, at the age of eighty-three, illus- 
trating the highest style of fidelity to a life of professional honor 
and duty. 

He was born at Grafton, Mass., Oct. 9, 1745, a son of Mark 
and Dorcas Bacheller. He married Meribah, daughter of James 
and Abigail Stratton of Athol, April 28, 1774. She died Dec. 22, 
1827, of palsy. 

In his early practice he suffered much from the want of roads 
and the condition of such as existed. He was obliged to travel 
by marked trees, in this and neighboring towns, often by night 
and frequently followed by bears and wolves; and to ford streams 
at the peril of his life. Yet he never refused to respond to the 
calls made upon him, whatever the raging of the storm, the 
dangers of the way, or the poverty of the patients. Earl}^ in 
life he made a profession of religion by joining the Congregat'onal 
church of Royalston. Governor Bullock paid him a beautiful 
tribute in his Centennial address when he said: "He deserves 
to be cherished in the combined associations of a lengthened 
and honored citizenship and of those solemn and tender services 
which in nearly a half century of practice received the gratitude 
of the living and took no reproach from the memorials of the 
dead." He died Feb. 10, 1829, of old age. 



114 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

lie was succeeded by his son, Dr. Stephen Bacheller, Jr., 
who was horn in R;\v.ilston Jan. 3, 1778. 

He practiced in Royalston and in all this section of Massa- 
chusetts nearly as long as his father. He received his preparatory 
education at New Salem Academy and Chesterfield, N. H., 
Academy. He commenced the study of medicine with his 
father, but spent the later period of his pupilage under the 
instruction of Dr. Henry Wells, of Montague, one of the most 
distinguished physicians of New England. 

At the age of 22 he began the practice of his profession in 
Truro, on Cape Cod. This was in the autumn or winter of 1809. 
He remained in Truro three years, when at the solicitation of 
his father, who began to feel some of the infirmities of age, he 
returned to his native town, and commenced practice with 
him in 1803. It is a fact worthy of notice, that the father and 
son practiced in town during the long period of 80 years, 
the father 35 years before the son commenced with him, and the 
son 4.5 years from his return to Royalston in 1803. 

As a physician he held a high rank and was greatly esteemed 
by his professional brethren. It is stated that he probably 
had, for many years, a more extensive consultation business 
than any other physician in the County, and perhaps in the 
State. He was highly honored by the Mass. Medical Society, 
of which he became a fellow June 1, 1824, and continued his 
connection to the time of his decease. He was one of the most 
punctual attendants at its annual meetings, often riding from 
Royalston to Boston — 70 miles or more — in his gig the day 
before the meeting, and returning home in the same manner, 
the day after. He was for many j^ears one of the Counsellors 
of the Society; two years its Vice-president; and one of the dele- 
gates from this Society, in May, 1848, to the American Med'cal 
Association, whose session that year was held in Bnltimore. 
He was also one of the founders of the District Society for 
Worcester County, and for some years its President. About 
40 medical students studied with him some of whom became 
eminent physicians. 

Independent of his professional worth, his townsmen esteemed 
him as a valuable citizen. He represented Royalston in the 
State Legislature, held the office of Justice ui the Peace, and 
served in various town offices. 




DR. STEPHEN BACHELLER, JR. 



MEDICAL PROFESSION 77J 

He gave all his iiiflnence in favor of the cause of Temperaiice, 
and contributed lil^'rally for the support of religion, educat on, 
etc. 

He died Nov., 1848, at the house of a near neighbor, where 
he called apparently well; but soon complained of feeling faint, 
leaned back in his chair and called for a glass of water, but 
])efore it could be handed him he was dead. 

He married ( l)Sally Stratton, daughter of Kufus and Asenath 
Stratton of Northfield, May 30, 1803; she died April 15, 1815 
jind he married (2) Sarah W. Moore of Canduidgc, Jan. 1, 1816; 
she died March 16, 1826, and he married t3)Martha Butler, 
Dec. 25, 1826. 

DR. THOMAS RICHARrSON 

Dr. Thomas Richardson practiced in Royalston more than 
twenty years, residing in the Northeasterly part of the town. 
He was born in Leominster, Mass., Feb. 1, 1766. He studied 
medicine with Dr. Carter of Lancaster, and Dr. Shattuck of 
Templeton, and came to Royalston about 1790 at the age of 
twenty-four. 

He married about 1789 Jane, daughter of Rev. Joseph 
Brown of Winchendon, minister there from 1769 to 1800. She 
was born Feb. 20, 1765, and died Oct 17, 1828. They had eleven • 
children born in Royalston between 1789 and 1810. He had 
a first-class reputation as a physician and a citizen. His practice 
was quite large and enabled him to accumulate a good property. 
He moved to Fitzwilliam, N. H., in 1812, but did not doa large 
business there, as his object in leaving Royalston was to 
avoid practice on account of his health, which suffered from 
irregular hours. He became one of the most prominent citizens 
of Fitzwilliam, and was for a long time its largest tax payer, 
and once at least its representative in tin- New Hampslnre 
Legislature. He had a fine taste and a thorough knowledge 
in raising horses, in which he stood at the head in this section 
of the country. He died in Fitzwilliam, Aug. 8, 1852, aged 
eighty-six and one-half 3^ears. 

DR. ISAAC P. WLLLIS 

Dr. Isaac P. Willis commenced practice at Richmond 
Centre, N. H., about 1833. The History of Richmond says. 



12(, HISTDKV OF ROYALSTON 

that he secured a fair share of practice, some of which he re- 
tained after he removed from town." After a few years he 
removed to Royalston and succeeded to the larg:e practice left 
by Dr. Stephen Batcheller, where he served the people with 
"positive skill and science in his profession." 

In February 1838 he married Mary C. Stacy of Petersham. 
They had two children, Martha Genett, born July 19, 1840 and 
Julius Astley, born Dec. 17, 1843. He was interested in town 
affairs and for several years served on the school committee. 
He was spoken of as able, public spirited and with a big hearted 
sympathy for all the sick ones, especially for the children. He 
died aliout 1863 or '64 of diphtheria which he took from one of 
his patients. 

DR. HORACE TRACY HANKS. 

One of the Royalston physicians, who practiced in town for 
three or four years just after the Civil War, and who is still 
remembered by some of the older people, was Dr. Horace Tracy 
Hanks. 

He was born at East Randolph, Vt., June 27, 1837. As a 
boy he went to the Orange County and West Randolph, Vt., 
Academies. In 1859 he was studying medicine under Prof. 
Walter Carpenter of Burlington, Vt., and attending lectures at 
the University of Vermont. In 1831 he graduated from the 
Albany City Medical College and spent one year in the Albany 
City Hospital. 

Early in 1862 he received his commission as Assistant Surgeon 
in the 30th R9gim9nt New York Volunteers. After serving in 
the field for one year and participating in several of the principal 
battles fought by the Army of the Potomac, notably those of 
Fredericksburg under Gen. Burnside, and Chancellorsville under 
Gen. Hooker, he was ordered to Washington and for a consider- 
able time was in charge of the Armory Square Hospital. After 
being mustered out he came to Royalston and practiced here 
until 1838. While in Royalston he was prominent in the social 
life of the place, was a member of the School Committee, and 
one of the Committee having charge of the Dedication of the 
Town hall in 1833. In 1858 he went to New York to attend 
lestures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and decided 
to settle in that City. In 1872 he was appoi-nted one of the at- 




DR. FRANK ^V. ADAMS 



MEDICAL PROFESSION 117 

teniing gynecologists to the Demilt Dispensary. He was 
Assistant Surgeon in the Woman's Hospital in 1875, and was 
promDted to Attending Surgeon in 1879. He delivered the 
course of lectures on Obsetrics at Dartmouth Medical College 
in 1878. In 1885 was chosen one of the professors of diseases 
in the New York Post Graduate Medical School and held the 
position until 1898 when failing health compelled him to resign. 
He was a member of various Medical Societies, was vice-presi- 
dent of the New York Academy of Medicine three years, and 
president of the Medical Society of the County of New York 
two years. 

In 1898 the University of Rochester conferred upon him 
the honorary degree of L. L. D. He contributed many excellent 
papers to the Medical press. He was twice married, first to 
Miss Mirtha L. Fisk in 1834, who died in 1838, leaving one 
daughter who died in New York. He married, second, in 1872, 
Miss Julia Dana Godfrey of Keene, N. H. by whom he had two 
daughters. He died Nov. 18, 1990. 

DR. FRANCIS WAYLAND ADAMS 

Dr. Francis Wayland Adim^, pDpularly ca'led 'Frank" 
from his childhood, was born in Brookfiekl, Mass., Feb. 18, 1840, 
the son of Daniel Emerson and Lucy (Hastings) Adams. He 
is a direct descendant of Henry Adams of Braintree, who landed 
in th s country 1632, and who was the progenitor of John and 
John Quincy Adams, presidents of the United States. 

From the preparatory school of Rev. David Perry at Brook- 
field he entered Amherst Co lege in 1858, graduating in 1862. 
Aroused by the bombardment of Fort Sumpter, he labored 
hard in addition to the work of the curriculum to make himself 
familiar w th the military tactics and drill of the regular army, 
and soon after receiving his degree of Bachelor of Arts he enlisted 
on the quota of Brookfield as a private in Company B, 51st 
Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. 

A few weeks later, having shown proficiency in the tactics, 
he was commissioned First Lieutenant from the ranks, and as 
such saw active service with his regiment in North Carol na. 
His health, however, had been greatly impaired by the double 
labors of his last year at col ege, and after the march to Goldsboro, 
N. C, and subsequent picket duty in the swamps on the 
river Neuse, he fell a victim to mi ar".a with serious complicationg 



118 



HISTORV OF ROY ALSTON 



which resulted in his discharge, Jan. 25, 1863, for disab llties 
received in the Hne of duty. 

Returning to the north in search of health, he in fme re- 
covered sufficiently to accept a position as principal of Lawrence 
Academy, FalmDuth, Mass., a funded institution which was 
converted into a h'gh schoo' a few years 'ater by an act of legis- 
liture. He held this office for nearly three years, but not having 
fully regained his health and find'ng the confinement of the 
school room debilitating, he resigned his position and took up 
the study of medicine. 

He received al)out this time the degree of Master of Arts 
from Amherst College, and in 1865 he entered the medical 
department of Harvard University. In the meantime, while 
studying medicine, he held the position of apothecary at the 
Retreat for the Insane, Hartford, Conn., and on receiving hi^ 
degree as Doctor of Medicine from Harvard in 1868, he became 
second assistant physician at the Retreat for the Insane. 

After a year of hospital experience, and feeling the need of 
an open air hfe, he decided upon general practice, and at the 
solicitation of his brother, Dr. Henry O. Adams, who was then 
in practice at South Royalston, he located in Royalston Centre 
in 1839, as su3ces=^or to Dr. Henry A. Deane. Two years later 
he removed to Fishkill-on-the-Hudson, N. Y., and became a 
partner of a college classmate, Dr. Charles N. Kittredge, in 
the conduct of a sanitarium, but in 1875 he was waited upon 
by a delegation from Royalston, who in behalf of a few citizens 
offered him a regular salary in addition to the receipts of his 
practice if he wou'd return to that town and locate as a physician. 
This proposition he finally accepted and the agreement was 
faithfully kept during the lifetime of the several parties. 

In 1872 he married Fannie Russell, daughter of Chauncj* 
and Caroline (Morse) Chase of Royalston. Their ch'ldren are: 

Mabel Winifred, born in Fishkill-on-the-Hudson, Nov. 17', 
1873. She graduated from Northfield Seminary in 1895 and 
from Cornell University in 1899, and is now the wife of Wil iam 
H. Burr, Esq., a lawyer at Rochester, N. Y. 

Roljert Winthrop, l)orn in Royalston, Oct. 27, 1881, a sketch 
of whose career will be found on another page of this history. 

Mr. Adams has been in continuous practice of his profession 
at Royalston s nee 1875, and during this time he has ministered 



MEDICAI. PROFESSION Hg 

to the bodi y needs of three generations of its townspeople, 
bringing comfort to hundreds of homes by his slvill and never- 
failing cheerfulness. 

In addition to this faithful labor of forty years devoted to 
the phys cal needs of his fellow ctizens he has taken an active 
and useful part in the civic and religious affairs of the town, 
as evidenced by the record of his career as a public servant. 

He has held the office of Town Clerk for two extended terms, 
1877 to 1889, and 1900 to 1915 inclusive, making a total service 
of twenty-nine years, the longest in the h' story of this office. 
The same remark applies to the office of Town Treasurer which 
he held in 1888 and again 1909 to 1915 inclusive, a total tenure 
of seventeen years He has also acted for twenty-nine years as 
a trustee of the Public Library and at various times in other 
positions of public trust. He has held a commission as Justice 
of the Peace for thirty-eight years, and a commission as Notary 
Pubhc for thirteen years. In 1883 Dr. Adams served as repre- 
sentative from the First Worcester Distr ct during the famous 
"Butler Session" of the General Court. 

To the relig'ous welfare of the community Dr. Adams has 
always given generously of his time and strength, having been 
Clerk of the First Congregational Church twenty-two years, 
Deacon twenty-two years, and Supe:i itendent of the Sunday 
school twenty-seven years, all of which offices he is holding at 
the present time. In 1875 to 1889 he occupied the position of 
chorister, bringing to this office the experience he had accjuired 
as organist of the Dutch Reformed Church at Fishkill-on-the- 
Hudson. 

He has in other ways been closely identified with the musical 
history of the town, and was one of the founders, in 1879, of 
the Madrigal Club, an organization which established an envial)le 
reputat'on in this and surrounding towns for the excellence of 
its concerts and dramatic productions. The proceeds of these 
entertainments were devoted to the purchase of the piano now 
in use at the Town Hall, and to other public purposes. 

While the activities wh'ch have been mentioned are those 
in wh ch Dr. Adam? has been most closely identified with the 
affairs of the town of Royalston, it is probable that he is more 
widely known in other towns through his services as an orator 
in connection with Memorial Day exercises, and Regimental 



120 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Reunions on which occasions it is his custom to delver an epic 
poem of which he is the author, and which deals historically 
and dramatically with the principal events and actors n the 
Civil War. This poem was inspired by his own experiences, 
and the patriotic sentiment which has ever been a leading motive 
in his own career is well expressed in its stirring lines, some of 
which are published in another part of this history. 

Among the Sons of Royalston, who have attained distinction 
in the'medical profession in other towns and cities are the follow- 
ing :Z)?-. Jame^ Bacheller, a son of Dr. Stephen Bacheller was born 
in Royalston June 5, 1791. He married Dec. 31, 1821, Persis, 
daughter of PhiUips and Persis (Joslin) Sweetzer of Marlboro, 
N. H.; she was born Sept. 16, 1799, and died Aug. 14, 1851. 
Dr. Bacheller established himself as a physician in the town of 
Marlboro, N. H., in 1818. His practice in that place covered a 
period of thirty-seven years, and during those years he gained 
an enviable reputation both in his profession and as a citizen of 
strong impulses in favor of human liberty, the temperance cause, 
and general good order and uprightness. As a physician he 
ranked high in all the region and was for some time the President 
of the New Hampshire Medical Society. Dr. Bacheller was 
also a representative and senator in the General Court of New 
Hampshire, a councillor, and a delegate to the convention to 
revise the State Constitution in 1850 and 1857. 

In 1855 he removed to FitzwiUiam, N. H., where his abihties 
were well-known, and though he did not seek practice in that 
town his business was large for a number of years or till failing 
health led to his retirement. He died April 14, 1866, aged eighty- 
three years. 

Dr. Hosea Davis, son of Asahel and Deborah (Mason) Davis, 
was born in Royalston June 21, 1816. He pursued the usual 
course of New England Farm life, attending school, teaching, 
taking a course at the Academies in Sherborn, Mass., and New 
Ipswich, N. H., and finally graduating at Dartmouth College 
in 1842. After his graduation he removed to the state of Mary- 
land and engaged in teaching. 

Subsequently he removed to Indiana and studied for the 
profession of medicine with Dr. Marshall Seaton in Rushville, 
Indiana, and engaged in the practice of his profession for three 



MEDICAL PROFESSION 121 

years in a small town nearby, after which he went to Littleton, 
Schuyler County, Illinois, in December, 1850. Here on the 18th 
day of October, 1853, he was married to Miss Maria Cynthia 
Marks, who died on the 23d day of September, 1856, leaving to his 
tender care two daughters. On the first day of April, 1860, he 
was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Abby Stevens of Mass- 
achusetts. Seven children were born to them, two of whom 
died young. From the time of his location in Littleton until his 
death, a period of over thirty-seven years, he was engaged in 
the practice of his profession. For a number of terms at intervals 
he represented the people of Littleton township in the board of 
Supervisors of Schuyler County. He was one of the Represen- 
tatives of the District of which Schuyler County then formed 
a part in the Legislature of the State of Illinois for one term. He 
was highly respected by all who knew him well. He was a 
central figure in the County, being known more or less to all 
professional men. 



T>r. Horace Jacobs, son of Simeon and Molly (Kenney) 
Jacobs was born in West Royalston, April 5, 1816. He was 
the sixth child of a family of nine boys, and when bis father died 
in 1824, the oldest one was less than nineteen years of age and 
the youngest a little over one year. Two years later the mother 
had died and the children were scattered over the country. 
Horace remained in Royalston and had the advantages of the 
public schools of the town for obtaining an education which 
was all the schooling he received. He studied medicine in Exeter, 
Me. and South Hadley, Mass., and began practicing his pro- 
fession in Chicopee, Mass., when twenty-eight years of age. He 
went to Springfield in 1857, where he became one of the most 
prominent physicians of the city. He married Emily Owen of 
Westfield, whose father owned a large part of Mount Tom. Their 
children were: Dr. Chauncey A. Jacobs: Mary Jacobs living in 
Springfield, Horace Jacobs who has a fancy goods store in 
Boston, Rachel B. Jacobs who graduated at Vassar College, 
was a teacher in Springfield, for twelve years a member of 
the School committee of that city and active in both church 
and charitable matters. She died at the age of fifty years; 
and Miriam Jacobs who was the wife of Rev. C. F. Rice, a 
prominent Methodist minister of the New England conference. 



222 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Dr. Daniel Choate Perkins, second son of Rev. Ebenezer Per- 
kins was born in Royalston Nov. 10, 1824. He entered Amherst 
College in the class of 1849, and was in college between two and 
three years. Graduated from the Harvard Medical College 
in 1850. Commenced to practice medicine in Enfield, Mass., 
and later in Springfield and Peabody, Mass., where he died Nov. 
3, 1863. His remains were brought to Royalston in 1902 for 
burial in the family lot. He married Mehitable C. Procter, 
who after her husband's death taught school in Royalston for 
a year. She afterwards married James Baxter, Ex-Mayor of 
Portland, Me. He had no children. He is described as being 
a delicate, nervous man, with a sensitive temperament and a 
fine face. 

Dr. Andrew Jackson Flagg, son of John Jr., and Rhoda Flagg, 
was born in Royalston, Jan. 4, 1832. He graduated at the 
Philadelphia Medical College and commenced the practice of 
medicine at Claremont, N. H. A few years previous to his 
death he moved to Fitchburg and made a specialty of chronic 
diseases. He died Jan. 24, 1883. 

Dr. Leander Sfiiifh gvaclnaied hom the medical department of 
Dartmouth College in 1834. He studied with Dr. Stephen 
Batcheller in Royalston and succeeded Dr. Ballou as physician 
in Richmond, N. H. He married Elizabeth, the only daughter 
of Dr. John Parkhurst of Richmond, N. H., and moved to Penn- 
sylvania. 

Dr. Samuel Augusus Fiske was born in Royalston, Feb. 
9, 1856, a son of Robert F. and Narcissa Perry (Whittemore) 
Fiske. He graduated at Yale in 1877, studied at Harvard 
Medical school and became professor in a medical school in 
Denver, Col., later being made Dean in 1895. Later he came 
east and began private practice in Brimfield. He became very 
active in tuberculosis work and other medical researches, writing 
considerable on these subjects. He had especially studied the 
climate of Colorado, California and Nassau. Feb. 22, 1906, 
he married Miss Clara W. Crumb, youngest daughter of Mr. 
and Mrs. Waitstill Crumb of Royalston. He died in 1915. 

Dr. Ebenezer A. Deane, a son of Jeremiah Deane, was born 
in Royalston Jan. 16, 1825. He was educated at Goodale 



LEGAL PROFESSION 123 

Academ}', leaving Royalston when a young man. He became 
very prominent and successful in his practice. He died at Mon- 
tague City in June, 1908, being the oldest member of the County 
Medical Society. 

Dr. Peletiah Metcalf, fifth child of Peletiah and Lydia 
(Estey) Metcalf, was born in Royalston July 29, 1780. He 
settled as a physician in Pawtucket and Woonsocket, R. I., 
where he was a prominent physician for many years, and where 
he died Oct. 26, 1866. He married Abigail Howes and they had 
two children. 



THE LEGAL PROFESSION 

While Royalston all through its history has been blessed 
with physicians of more than ordinary skill in their profession 
and of high character and attainments, tradition says Royalston 
never enjoyed the presence of a settled lawyer for more than 
three months. It is said that soon after the settlement of the 
town, a young sprig of the law made his appearance here, but 
after a trial of about three months, the good people made him 
the offer of a cow if he would leave town. It is said that he left 
and the town has never had a resident lawyer since. 

But if the town has not been a good place for lawyers to 
practice in, it has been a good place for them to be born in, and 
there is a good list of natives of the town who have attained 
distinction in the legal profession in various parts of the country. 
Among these are Alexander H. Bullock, Asahel Peck, Hamilton S. 
Peck, Nahum Peck, Charles A. Gregory, Benjamin C. Perkins, 
Stephen Holman, Jenner Morse, Charles H. Goodell, Arthur C. 
Brown. 

Nahum Peck, eldest son of Squire and Elizabeth (Goddard) 
Peck, was born in Royalston, Oct. 5, 1796. He was descended 
from Joseph Peck of Belton, Yorkshire County, England, being 
the seventh generation from the Puritan ancestor, who came 
from Hingham, England to Hingham, Mass., in 1638. Nahum 
Peck's father moved to Montpelier, Vt., about 1806. Nahum 
studied law and was admitted to Washington County bar in 
1823. He later moved to Hinesburg where he was honored by 



124 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

many positions from his townsmen. He represented his town in 
the Vermont Legislature several terms, and was a prominent 
lawyer in his part of the State. He was an ardent abolitionist 
and temperance reformer. He was twice married, Oct, 1825, 
to Lucinda Wheeler of Montpelier, who died Jan. 14, 1854, and 
to Marcia Wood of Keesville, N. Y., in 1857, she died in 1875. 

He had one son by his first wife, Cicero Goddard Peck, born 
Feb. 17, 1828. He prepared for college, but was obliged to give 
it up on account of ill health.. 

He lived on a farm all his life and was interested in develop- 
ing the agriculture of his county. He was elected to the Vermont 
f[ouse and Senate, was a member of the State Board of Educa- 
tion, Trustee of the Reform School and town superintendent 
of schools of Hinesburg. He was a prominent Good Templar, 
and member of the Methodist Church. He married Maria 
Coleman of Hinesburg. They had no children of their own, but 
an adopted daughter, who married Rev. M. R. France. 

Benjamin Conant Perki7is, son of Rev. Ebenezer Perkins, 
was born in Royalston Jan. 23, 1827, graduated at Dartmouth 
College in 1848, studied law with Hon. Asahel Huntington and 
Rufus Choate. He was State Senator for two terms, and Regis- 
ter of Bankruptcy for Essex County. Practiced law in Salem. 

He married, first, Julia A. Pearson, Oct. 8, 1853, she was 
the daughter of Samuel A. and Sarah A. Pearson of Hanover, 
N. H. She died, April 30, 1863. He married, second, widow 
Helen M. (Dole) Wills, daughter of Carlton and EHzabeth 
(Carlton) Dole, Nov. 8, 1865, she died Oct. 23, 1879. 

Charles Augustus Gregory, son of General Franklin Gregory, 
was born in Royalston Sept. 7, 1833. He graduated from Har- 
vard College in the class of 1855. He resided one year in Cambridge 
after graduating, studying at the Law School ; he then spent six 
months studying law in the office of Hon. E. R. Hoar and Horace 
Gray, Esq., in Boston, and was admitted to the Suffolk Bar 
about the month of April, 1857. He then went to Chicago, 
Illinois, to reside, and to practice law. He entered the office of 
Messrs. Arnold, Larned and Lay, and was soon after admitted 
to the bar in Illinois. He formed a co-partnership with Messrs. 
Arnold and Lay, which was know as the firm of Arnold, Lay 
and Gregory; subsequently the firm became Arnold and Gregory 



LEGAI, PROFESSION 125 

and in 1861 he was practicing law alone, and so continued until 
1835, when he resumed his partnership with Hon. Isaac Arnold, 
and was for many years one of the prominent lawyers of Chicago. 
He was also interested in other business and had accumulated 
a large property before the fire. Subsequently he was president 
of the Cook County Land Company. He was married in Chicago 
Dec. 4, 1861, to Julia A., daughter of C. W. and Maria Booth, 
of New York. They had one son, Harold, who died Feb. 22, 
1896, unmarried. He was about twenty-seven years of age and 
had studied at Harvard University. Charles Augustus Gregory 
died in the summer of 1915 at Chicago. 

Arthur C. Brown, youngest son of Elisah F. and Angeline 
(French) Brown was born in Royalston May 11, 1855. He 
removed to Athol with his parents when a boy, was educated 
in the Athol schools, fitted for college at the Fitchburg High 
School, and entered Harvard College in 1875 from which he 
graduated with excellent rank in 1879; studied law at the 
Columbia law school in New York, and also in the law office 
of Eliot F. Shepard, a son-in-law of William H. Vanderbuilt. 
He then began the practice of law which he continued for several 
years, when he entered the office of a large insurance company 
in New York, and assisted in the legal department of the busi- 
ness. He died in 1899. 



Charles H. Goodell, was born in Winchendon, May 8, 1854. 
His parents died when he was a young boy, his mother when he 
was eight years of age, and his father when he was ten. His 
health was poor and he was placed on a farm in Royalston. 
His early manhood alternated between teaching and attending 
schools in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Michigan. He 
completed his academic course at Caro, Mich., and did work 
on a country newspaper. In 1885 he went to Worcester and 
entered the General offices of the Worcester, Nashua and Roches- 
ter Railroad as stenographer to the general manager. 

He was for a time with the Whitcomb Envelope Co., and for 
five years was private secretary to Phillip W. Moen; after 
that for ten years he was with the Mutual Life Insurance Co., 
chiefly in the office of the president. 



226 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

In April, 1901, he was appointed by Senator George F. Hoar 
clerk of the United States Senate Committees on privileges and 
elections, and acted as the Senator's private secretary for several 
years. He was Principal of the Worcester evening school for 
five years. He was admitted to the bar in January, 1902, and for 
a number of years had an office in the State Mutual building 
in Worcester, where he practiced his profession until his death. 



CHAPTER X 
RED LETTER DAYS OF ROYALSTON HISTORY 

There are days in the history of nations and towns as 
well as individuals that stand out above other days in the 
memories of those who take part in and witness the events 
that transpire. The records of the occasions that are ob- 
served on these days are worthy of being preserved by the 
printed page and transmitted to future generations as a part 
of the history of town or nation. 

The town of Royalston has some of these Red Letter Days 
which will be described in this chapter. 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 

The question of celebrating the hundredth anniversary of 
the settlement and incorporation of Royalston had been 
discussed for some time, but no public action was taken 
until April 4, 1864, when the town chose a committee of 
seven to consider and report upon that question. 

The committee consisted of Rev. E. W. Bullard, Salmon S. 
Farrar, Jarvis Davis, Esq., Joseph L. Perkins, Cyrus Davis, 
John N. Bartlett and Luther Harrington. 

This committee reported to the town Nov. 8, 1864, and 
among the recommendations made were the following: That 
Wednesday, Aug. 23, 1865, be the day for observing the 
commemorative services of the settlement and incorporation 
of Royalston; that these services be, a Commemorative 
Address, Poems, and a free collation, with appropriate 
religious exercises; that Royalston's honored son, and Massa- 
chusetts peerless orator, the Hon. Alexander H. Bullock, be 
invited to deliver the address, and Samuel C. Gale, Esq., and 
Albert Bryant, A.M., the poems. 

These recommendations were adopted by the town, and a 
committeee of fifteen was chosen to have charge of the celebra- 
tion. That committee consisted of Eev. E. W. Bullard, Joseph 



128 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Raymond, Benj. H. Brown, Jarvis Davis, John N. Bartlett, 
Russell Morse, Jr., Cyrus B. Reed, Wellington White, Cyrus 
Davis, Arba Sherwin, John M. Upham, Edmund Stockwell, 
Timothy Clark, Joseph L. Perkins and Maynard Partridge. 

An historical committee was also appointed at the same 
time to make researches in reference to the history of Royal- 
ston with a view to their preservation and ultimate publi- 
cation; this committee consisted of seven as follows: Barnett 
Bullock, Esq., Daniel Davis, John N. Bartlett, Joseph R. 
Eaton, Chas. H. Newton, Luther Harrington and Horace 
Pierce. 

In addition to the Orator and Poets chosen by the town, 
the committee chose Rev. E. W. Bullard of Royalston, Pres- 
ident, Rev. A. E. P. Perkins of Ware, Chaplain, Hon. Geo. 
Whitney of Royalston, Chief Marshal, and Benj. C. Perkins 
of South Danvers, Toastmaster of the day. Letters of 
acceptance, or the personal acceptance of these positions, 
were duly received from all these gentlemen, except Samuel C. 
Gale of Minneapolis, Minn., who was obliged reluctantly to 
decline. The services of the Ashburnham Cornet Band, and 
of the united choirs of the town were secured for the day. 

The Centennial Day at last arrived; it was preceded by a 
stormy evening and night, but opened with one of the most 
perfect summer mornings, everything appearing fresh and 
beautiful, and Royalston in all her loveliness stood forth to 
welcome back her ^ons and daughters to their old homes. 
At an early hour the Common was alive with people, and all 
the roads were pouring in the visitors from neighboring towns. 
About ten o'clock a.m., the sound of martial music was 
heard, and the grand procession began to form under the 
direction of Chief Marshal Whitney, and the people were soon 
seated in the spacious tent where the speaking of the day was 
to be held, this mammoth pavilion being erected on the 
grounds of R. D. Ripley, Esq., immediately north of his 
residence. Everything being in readiness the Chief Marshal 
ascended the platform and introduced the President of the 
day, Rev. E. W. Bullard. 

The President then announced the following Vice-Pres- 
idents and Secretaries: 

Vice-Presidents. — Capt. Samuel Lee of Templeton, Rev. 
Ammi Nichols of Braintree, N. H., Hon. Geo. C. Richardson 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 129 

of Cambridge, Benoni Peck, Esq., of Fitzwilliam, N. H., 
Harrison Bliss of Worcester, Chauncey Peck of Boston, Rev. 
Henry Cummings of Newport, N. H., Rev. Sidney Holman of 
Goshen, Rev. Daniel Shepardson of Cincinnati, Ohio, Rev. 
Ebenezer Cutler of Worcester, Thomas Norton of Portland, 
Me., James Raymond of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Hon. Davis 
Goddard of Orange. 

Secretaries. — John P. Gregory of Cambridge, and Joseph 
E. Raymond of Boston. 

The exercises commenced with music by the Ashburnham 
Cornet Band, after which the Chaplain, Rev. A. E. P. Perkins 
read appropriate selections of Scripture and offered prayer. 

REV. E. W. BULLARD'S ADDRESS OF WELCOME 

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I am charged with a welcome for 
the assembled children and friends of Royalston. It shall be 
briefly spoken. Welcome to this Centennial Day! Welcome 
to these commemorative services! Welcome to the fast rising 
memories of the past, and the fresh joys of the present 
hour! Welcome to the reunion of kindred, neighbors and 
friends, recalled by this occasion to tread once more together 
the old familiar paths, and recount the varied experiences of 
life! Welcome to this jubilee, gratefully harmonious with the 
public joy in the triumph of government and law over 
treason and rebelhon, of unity over disruption, liberty 
over oppression! Indeed, a redeemed and vindicated country, 
methinks, welcomes this natal day of a loyal town, gives you 
joy in the keeping of it, and, with a significance larger than 
ever before, pledges you security in the possession and enjoy- 
ment of the birthright of freemen. And the old flag, too, 
baptized anew in blood, and consecrated afresh to American 
liberty and life, welcomes you to this festival beneath her 
ample and glorified folds. She, too, remembers the sires, 
whose counsel and courage gave her birth; and proudly does 
she salute the sons, who have now given their voice to say it, 
and their blood to seal — 'Let her be perpetual! Let her 
remain enlireV 

"We meet to commemorate the history of a hundred years 
— to recall and honor the names and the deeds, both of the 
living and the dead, that have made this history worthy of 
commemoration. 



130 HISTORY OF KOYALSTON 

"A hundred years ago, and these hills and valleys were 
covered with the primeval forest; these streams, streamlets, 
and waterfalls wasted their song, as did the wild flowers, 
their sweetness upon the desert air. All was a waste of 
Nature, awaiting some plastic hand to evoke her latent powers, 
and bid the wilderness rejoice. 

"A hundred years have past since the advent of that hand; 
and to-day the air is full of the memarie?, and our eyes 
behold the substantial records of what that hand has wrought. 
To give these memories tongue, these records form, and 
beauty, and enduring life is the grateful office of the hour. 

" I felicitate you in gifted sons, able and willing to dis- 
charge the sacred trust, — a Bullock, upon whose lips the 
college, senate and people alike, delighted hang, and to 
honor whom with her highest gift the Commonwealth im- 
patient waits; and a Bryant, early smitten with the love of 
song, and still allegiant to that early love. 

"You wait to hear them; and I, not less eager, this wel- 
come spoken, give place to their labors of filial love and 
fraternal entertainment." 

The united choirs of the town then sang, to the tune of 
"Auld Lang Syne," led by Geo. F. Miller, an original hymn, 
written for the occasion by Mrs. George Woodbury, of 
Royalston. Following the hymn, came the address of Hon. 
Alexander H. Bullock. 

Mr. Bullock's address occupied about one hour and a 
half in delivery, and held the undivided attention of the 
large audience to the end, as he rehearsed the history and 
achievements of his native town. Refemng to its disadvan- 
tage of remoteness from the sea, and of a northern frontier, 
he told of the compensations it enjoyed — "of an atmosphere 
that inspires youth and enlivens age, — of territorial possessions 
simple indeed, but glistening with the authority of the names 
of the fathers of American independence, — of a planting 
in the mountain air, of a history studded with patriotic 
associations, of a religious connection that shall bear your 
children to heights of a happy remembrance of the names of 
their fathers, — of a place on the sweet, broad plain of this 
civilization of Worcester North, stars encircling overhead, 
and a simple robustness of character sustaining the people." 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION /J/ 

His closing words were a beautiful and eloquent tribute 
to the grand old town: "Friends and fellow-citizens: This 
imperfect tribute to the qualities and the labors of our 
ancestors must be brought to a close. At the end of one 
hundred years, we, their descendants, have assembled to 
contemplate in brief review their lives and achievements. I 
submit it to impartial judgment, that their conduct in the 
early settlement, in the management of the town, in the 
cultivation of the fields, in their relations with the great 
events of the country, in all the duties of church and state, 
in the salutary examples which have passed from one genera- 
tion to another, — in religion, industry, politics, and daily 
life, — has been such that we may rehearse it with pride and 
commend it to those who shall come after us. This congrega- 
tion of the living is equaled in numbers by those who sleep 
in this town in the quiet enclosures of the dead. 

"They speak to us out of their silence and repeat the lesson 
of their lives. As they were bound together by the ties of 
friendship in the primitive period of their trials, and have 
kept the counsels of peace and unity through all the stages 
of this history, so let that spirit control another age and the 
felicities of social life go hand in hand with public stability 
and prosperity. As they adapted themselves to the changing 
requisitions of the general industry and economy, so let the 
tides of occupation, as they come and go with you, bear 
onward a community never behind but always advancing. 

"As they never failed to uphold the honor of their country 
by their hearts, by their declarations, and by their arms, so 
let the American Union and the Commonwealth of Massa- 
chusetts find in this town forever most constant friends and 
most gallant defenders. As they have transmitted to our 
keeping the institutions of worship and education, by them at 
all times well endowed and well supported, so let the en- 
dowments be multiplied and the support be enlarged till the 
bells of the churches and the schools shall sound a welcome in 
every ear. And when, after the passage of another century, 
your successors shall meet over your dust to celebrate their 
day, may it be the happiness of the intervening generations 
to have provided for them as little for reproach and as much 
for devout thanksgiving as we ourselves have received from 
our fathers." 



132 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Following the address, the band gave another selection, 
after which the poet of the day, Mr. Albert Bryant, delivered 
a commemorative poem, entitled "Memorials and Garlands," 
which rehearsed in verse the Memorials of Royalston in a 
charming manner, as the gifted orator preceding him had 
eloquently described them. These exercises closed by the 
choir and audience uniting in singing "Old Hundred." The 
procession was then re-formed by Chief Marshal Whitney and 
marched to the dinner tent which had been erected near 
Colonel Whitney's residence, and where about eight hundred 
guests sat down to the tables. After abundant justice had 
been done to the feast, the president called the company to 
order and introduced the toastmaster, Benj. C. Perkins, Esq.; 
the sentiments proposed and responses elicited were reported 
by the Barre Gazette as follows: 

"The President of the United States" — was responded to 
by the band with — "When Johnnie Comes Marching Home." 
Edwin Pierce of New York responded for the "Sons of 
Royalston"; Geo. Richardson of Cambridge for "The Metrop- 
olis"; Hon. Artemas Lee of Templeton for "Worcester 
County"; Rev. Mr. Marvin of Winchendon for "Our Sister 
Towns"; the choir — in a piece of ancient music — for "Ye 
Olden Time"; Mr. Gregory of Chicago for "The West"; Rev. 
Mr. Perkins of Ware for "The Clergy"; the band for "The 
Battlefields of Our Country," with the "Star Spangled Ban- 
ner"; Rev. Sidney Holman for "The Schoolmasters"; Rev. 
Mr. Wordworth for "The Fellows who Stole the Hearts of Our 
Daughters"; the choir for "The Flag of Sumpter"; and closed 
with "Auld Lang Syne." 

Thus passed into history one of the Red Letter Days of 
Royalston. 



THE GREAT WHIG GATHERING OF 1840 

One of the greatest pohtical gatherings of Northern Worcester 
county took place in Royalston during the Log-cabin campaign 
of 1840 and was reported by the "Boston Atlas" as follows: 

"The Whig Association of Royalston — a W^hig fortress on 
the frontier — had invited General Wilson to address them on 
Saturday, May 30th. Notice had been posted in a few of the 



WHIG GATHERING OF 1 84O JJJ 

adjacent towns, and the people soon began to threaten a 
general attendance. 

"The Whigs of Royalston, on old election day, put up 
their log-cabin of white birch, as indicative of a sound flogging 
for the enemy in the autumn; also, as symbolical of that 
other white house which is to be entered by a new occupant 
on the fourth of March. 

"At sunrise on Saturday the national flag was streaming in 
playful triumph over the platform and the awning of green 
boughs. At the firing of a heavy gun in the distance about 
9 o'clock, a fine body of seventy horses, mounted by as many 
young Whig voters of Royalston — the first company of 
Whig cavalry which has been raised in Worcester County — 
was seen hurrying towards the New Hampshire line, to re- 
ceive the artillery from Fitzwilliam, who were on the march 
to do escort duty to their old general. This elegant com- 
pany of brave men, in beautiful uniforms, under the command 
of Captain Brown, being joined by the cavalry, proceeded on 
the Keene road and received General Wilson and a rich brass 
band from Keene, with military salute. 

"Immediately after the arrival of the general on the 
Common, the procession from neighboring towns, preceded by 
the company of horses, began to come in. Petersham, Barre, 
Athol and Phillipston, having united their lines of carriages 
in one, presented a triumphal procession one mile and a half 
in length, some of their vehicles containing from 20 to 30 
men. There was the coach from Barre, drawn by eight fine 
horses, crowned by its band of music vieing with the Peter- 
sham band, which in like manner, and in the same common 
cause, filled the air with the brazen breath of its music. 
Almost simultaneously, came in the line from the east, 
composed of the gatherings from Hubbardston, Templeton, 
Winchendon and Gardner, with music from the last of these 
towns. This procession was more than one mile in length; 
one of the carriages from Winchendon, containing a small 
army of seventy Whig voters, and another from Templeton 
having fifty. Most of the carriages were refreshed with a 
good supply of green boughs; and any friend of the adminis- 
tration who watched appearances, must have had some of the 
apprehensions that struggled in the breast of poor Macbeth, 
when in the hour of his overthrow he looked out and saw the 



134 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

revengful army approaching Dunsinane, with branches of 
Birnem trees waving over them: 

— " 'And now a wood 
Comes toward Dunsinane.' 

"The pictorial insignia of the occasion, though hastily 
prepared were forcibly expressive of one zeal animating all. 
The banners of such seasons are nothing but proof sheets of 
the fall editions. 

"There was 'Athol right side up/ always admitted to be. 

"'Petersha7n for Harrison,' a change in her position from 
that of the last two elections, which is certain to be ac- 
complished. 

"'Union,' a fine flag of several towns combined. 

'"The Currency too hard already,' a true sarcasm on the 
government — and besides several others, 'Templeton Her- 
self Again,' an assertion which her citizens can prove only by 
vigorous exertions. 

"It must not be forgotten that the ladies (whose heads are 
always clear, hearts always true) having walked in procession 
to the spot, listened to the addresses with much interest. 

"There were more than 400 of them present. A little past 
noon the multitude having gone in order through the log- 
cabin, presented an attentive, intelligent and enthusiastic 
audience of 3000, at a moderate computation; there being 
to all appearance, at least that number of voters present. 

"Messrs. Lee and Mason of Templeton, Stevens of Athol, 
Parkhurst of Petersham, Bryant of Barre and Davenport of 
Mendon, all spoke briefly but happily of Whig principles and 
Whig prospects. They were frequently interrupted by the 
enthusiastic cheers of an excited audience, and by the deep 
toned cannon. General Wilson followed, and for two hours 
and a quarter beguiled the people of all consciousness, except 
that of the presence of the orator, his eloquence, and his 
subject. This address was highly judicious. It was a 
masterly analysis, running through the whole history and 
policy of the National Government for 12 years — luminous 
in exposing the progress of political error, brilliant in im- 
passioned eloquence, and extremely forcible in appeal for 
union and action. It was just the thing. The time and the 
place called for it, and no more and no less. This address, 
with the other addresses and other incidents of the occasion, 



DEDICATION OF NEWTON LIBRARY 133 

will give an impulse to the great cause of Harrison and 
Reform, in Worcester North, which will utter itself in swollen 
majorities in November. 

"The spirit of untiring effort is now aroused in that portion 
of the county. The thousands of Whigs who were present 
pledged themselves for a result which their activity will, 
beyond all doubt accomplish, to let no enemy to Harrison 
and Relief, find his way to the next Legislature from a 
single town in Worcester North, and to give their due pro- 
portion of a Whig majority of 4000 ia the county. 

Petersham, Barre, Athol, Royalston, Templeton, Winchendon, 
Phillipston, Gardner, Ashburnham, Westminster, Hubbardston, 
Rutland, and their neighbors, will give a praiseworthy account 
of themselves in the fall. 

"At the close of the exercises, it was announced that Mr. 
Webster would speak at Barre on the 4th of July. 

"Worcester County from the north line will be present. 
The excellent artillery from Fitzwilliam, of sixty-five good 
men and true, it is understood, will also attend. Whether the 
Barre folks will or not, the people will be there; for here, 
though we would at first have had only a town affair, yet 
having invited others to come, much to our joy the people 
came in and made it a pageant. An abundant entertainment 
of crackers, cider, cheese, and a few accompaniments, closed 
the day." 



DEDICATION OF THE PHINEHAS S. NEWTON PUBLIC 

LIBRARY 

One of the Red Letter Days of Royalston history which 
will always be remembered with pleasure by the present 
generation was June 28, 1911, when the Phinehas S. Newton 
Public Library was dedicated. It was a proud day for this 
little hill town, for while other public buildings have been 
dedicated in town, this was the first time a building had been 
presented to the town by one of her citizens, not as a memo- 
rial, but as a gift from the living. When the morning of the 
day dawned the appearance of the clouds gave rise to fears 
of rain, but before noon the clouds had cleared away, and by 
the time for the exercises the Common was thronged with 



7J(5 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

more than fiYe hundred people. Starrett's Band of iVthol 
gave a band concert on the Common from twelve to two 
o'clock. Caterer E. M. Read of Fitchburg provided dinners 
for upwards of two hundred, tiibles being set in both the 
upper and lower halls of the town hall building. At 2 p.m., 
the exercises began in the church, which was filled to over- 
flowing. The exercises opened with an organ voluntary by 
Miss Cora E. Stockwell. Dr. Frank W. Adams, as master 
of ceremonies, in a few well chosen words extended a cordial 
welcome to all, and prayer was offered by Rev. Charles O. 
Fogg, pastor of the Congregational Church. Dr. Frank W. 
Adams gave a historical sketch on "The Libraries of Royal- 
ston" from the forming of the first library in 1778, only thir- 
teen years after the incorporation of the town, up to the 
present day when the beautiful building bearing the name of 
the Phinehas Newton Public Liljrary marks a new epoch in 
the history of Royalston's public libraries. Following Dr. 
Adams' valuable and interesting paper came a duet by Mrs. 
Leota Richards of this town and Mrs. Jennie Richards of 
Fitchburg. The first address of the afternoon was by one of 
Royalston's "boys," Frederic C. Nichols, Treasurer of the 
Fitchburg Savings Bank, upon "The Library and the Town 
from the Standpoint of a Business Man." He paid a high 
tribute to the town of Royalston, Miss Lizzie Chase, a former 
librarian, and also to the donor of the building. He urged 
upon the sons and daughters loyalty to the town, and to each 
other. Fred W. Cross of South Royalston followed with an 
address upon "The Library and the Public School." Then 
followed a vocal solo by Mrs. Jennie Richards, and the 
presentation of the deeds and keys by Warren M. Hill of 
Boston, eldest son of William H. Hill, who presented the 
spot upon which the library stands in memory of his deceased 
wife, Mrs. Sarah M. Hill. These were accepted in behalf of 
the town by Charles H. Brown, Chairman of the Selectmen, 
who read the following resolutions of thanks adopted by the 
town of Royalston on the acceptance of their new public library 
building: 

Whereas, a need for several years has existed of a suitable 
and commodious building for the Public Library whose volumes 
have been overflowing the shelf room allotted them in the 
Town House; and 



DEDICATION OF NEWTON LIBRARY 13? 

Whereas, Mr. Phinehas S. Newton, recognizing this need, 
has erected a Ubrary building, which in architecture and 
equipment has added to the beauty of the Common as well 
as the welfare of the town; and 

Whereas, Mr. William H. Hill of Brookline, has generously 
given a suitable corner lot on his estate for the said building; 
now therefore, 

Resolved, that the thanks of the town be conveyed to Mr. 
Phinehas S. Newton for his generous gift, which is certain to 
be of incalculable benefit to the town in the coming years, 
and a lasting memorial to his name; and also, 

Resolved, that the thanks of the town be conveyed to Mr. 
William H. Hill for the beautiful site he has provided for the 
library building as a memorial to his wife, Sarah M. Hill, 
whose interest in the Royalston Public Library was notable, 
and which continued unabated during her lifetime; and fur- 
ther. 

Resolved, that a copy of these resolutions be presented to 
each of the donors, and a copy also be published in the Athol 
papers, the Fitchburg Sentinel and the Worcester Telegram. 
Drawn and forwarded to the donors in conformity with the 
instructions of the town at their meeting of acceptance held 
June 17, 1911. 

Frank W. Adams, 
Rev. Chas. G. Fogg, 
Colin Mackenzie, 

Committee on Resolutions. 

Rev. F. J. Fairbanks responded in behalf of the trustees of 
the library. Dr. Adams then read a letter from Miss Bertha 
Lee, presenting to the town for the Hbrary, a very beautiful 
clock, the gift of Miss Bertha Lee, Mrs. Evelyn Converse of 
Newton and Wallace Pierce of Boston, in memory of J. 
Howard Lee, who for a number of years spent the summer 
seasons here. Rev. F. J. Fairbanks responded in behalf of the 
town. Miss Cora E. Stockwell gave a vocal solo, and Dr. 
Adams then introduced the eminent surgeon^ Dr. Maurice H. 
Richardson of Boston, who gave a brief address. Hon. 
Herbert Parker of Lancaster gave the last address of the day, 
which was a rare literary treat and held the close attention of 
the audience to the end, after which the audience rose and 



238 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

joined in the singing of "America" and the benediction was 
pronounced by Rev. A. M. Rice. The Hbrary, which was 
beautifully decorated with green and flowers under the 
direction of Miss Bertha Lee, was visited by many during the 
day. Among those who attended the exercises were Daniel 
Davis who was 102 years old and Mrs. Davis who was 91. 



ROYALSTON S FIRST OLD HOME WEEK 

The town's first Old Home Week celebration was held 
July 30, 1903, and the sons and daughters of the old town 
gathered from far and wide, making it almost equal to the 
birthday anniversaries of towns. The forenoon was devoted 
to social reunions and family gatherings, listening to the 
music of the Red Men's band of Winchendon, and witness- 
ing games and sports on the Common. The town hall, 
church and buildings around the Common were beautifully 
decorated, presenting a gala day appearance. The dinner 
which was served in the town hall was partaken of by 800 
people. 

The literary exercises of the afternoon held in the newly 
repaired church, continued from two until nearly five o'clock 
and held the close attention of a large audience. The 
exercises opened with an organ voluntary, and the singing of 
"Old Hundred" by the audience. The divine blessing was 
invoked by Rev. A. M. Rice, who also read the 84th Psalm, 
and Prof. E. N. Knight of Royalston rendered a solo. 

Rev. F. J. Fairbanks officiated as president of the day, 
and in his address of welcome pictured the old mother town, 
with a heart filled with gladness and face wreathed Avith 
smiles greeting her sons and daughters. He alluded to the 
nearly seven hundred stray sons and daughters scattered in 
,twenty-five states from Maine to Oregon and from the Great 
Lakes to the Gulf. There were among them governors, mayors, 
ministers, men and women in every walk of life, and it was to 
the west part of the town that the ancestry of President 
Garfield could be traced. Dr. Frank W. Adams was then 
introduced as toastmaster. He first called upon Ex-Mayor 
Thomas N. Hart of Boston, who said that although not born 
in Royalston, he went to school here and had the foundation 



FIRST OLD HOME WEKK 7J9 

laid for his future life. The advice that he gave for achieving 
success was, "Do the work you have to do a little better than 
anybody else can do it." The next speaker was Judge 
Hamilton S. Peck, ex-mayor of Burlington, Vt., who character- 
ized this as one of the heavenly days that cannot die. 

Prof. Fred W. Cross of Palmer, a Royalston boy, told of 
the gallant deeds of General Lysander Cutler at Gettysburg, 
of Nahum Green, the first martyr of Royalston to the cause of 
liberty; of Joseph Estabrook, the old-time representative; Rufus 
Bullock, Col. George Whitney and the Doctors Batchellor. 

Miss Jennie Bolton of Royalston sang, "Our Dear Old 
Home," after which Edward E. Fisher, city engineer of 
Rochester, N. Y., spoke briefly. Rev. Albert Bryant of 
Scituate, who was the poet at the centennial celebration of the 
town in 1865, read a poem descriptive of old-time characters 
of Royalston. A paper prepared by Mrs. Calista Peck Fair- 
banks of Winchendon was read by President Fairbanks, in 
which she described the old Peck families of West Royalston, 
one of which had ten children, another twelve and another 
thirteen. Prof. Knight and Miss Morgan of South Royal- 
ston sang "Home Sweet Home." The last speaker was Mrs. 
C. C. Parker of Winchendon. George W. Holman of Fitch- 
burg then presented to the Congregational Church the image 
of Gabriel with his trumpet, which was in the old church, and 
was rescued from the rubbish heap when that building was de- 
stroyed. It had been in the Holman family during all those 
years, and on this occasion he restored it to the society and 
church. 



OLD HOME DAY OF 1904 

The Old Home Day observance of 1904 held on 

took the form of a basket picinic. Between four hundred and 
five hundred registered during the day, representing forty- 
four cities and towns in seven states, the District of Columbia 
and Sweden. A social time with games, sports, etc., occupied 
the forenoon. The exercises of the afternoon were held in the 
town hall. Rev. F. J. Fairbanks, president of the day, gave 
the address of welcome. Mr. Miller gave a piano solo, prayer 
was offered by Rev. James M. Bates of South Royalston, and 



14-0 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Prof. E. N. Knight rendered a solo. Short speeches were 
made by E. T. Lewis of Athol, who stated that his mother 
was born in Royalston one hundred and twelve years ago and 
raised a family of nine children; Lizzie Brown of Chicago 
referred to the old-time teachers of Royalston who were paid 
one dollar a week and sometimes only ninety-six cents. 
Wood for the schools was furnished at the rate of so many 
feet per scholar. 

Other speakers were, B. H. Brown, Dr. Frank W. Adams 
and Rev. J. M. Bates. Miss Jennie Bolton gave a vocal solo, 
and the exercises closed with the singing of "America" the chorus 
being led by Herman M. Partridge. Music during the day 
was furnished by the Red Men's band of Winchendon. The 
officers of the Old Home Association were: President, Rev. 
F. J. Fairbanks; Secretaiy, H. M. Partridge; Treasurer, P. S. 
Newton; Executive Committee, B. H. Brown, Leonard 
Byam, W. W. Davis. 



OLD HOME DAY OF 1910 

Royalston's Old Home Day for 1910 was observed on 
August 4th, and was a most interesting occasion, the old 
town entertaining a large number of her sons and daughters. 
The Common was dotted with tents where refreshments were 
served, and the Secretary's tent where those who desired 
could register and rest. The town hall was trimmed with 
flags and bunting, and a number of residences also bore 
decorations. Starrett's band of Athol gave concerts during 
the day, and also one in the town hall in the evening. A 
reunion dinner was served in the town hall from 11.30 to 1.30, 
and the afternoon exercises began at two o'clock in the 
Congregational Church. The first number on the program 
was an organ selection by Miss Cora E. Stockwell. Rev. 
Charles O. Fogg, pastor of the church, offered prayer, after 
which was a selection by a quartet, and Colin Mackenzie, 
president of the day gave the address of welcome. George A. 
Bemis of Athol gave a clarinet solo, and then came short and 
interesting addresses by Hamilton S. Peck of Burlington, Vt., 
Dana M. Dustan of Worcester, John B. Bowker, business 
manager of the Worcester Telegram, and Rev. C. B. Williams 
of Fitzwilliam, N. H. 



OLD HOME DAY OF I91O 141 

A feature of the day was the presence of Daniel Davis of 
West Royalston, who was one hundred and one years old, and 
a short paper of his own writing was read, and a royal 
greeting given him. There was probably no other like 
celebration in New England that could boast of the presence 
of so old a man and a native of the town. The exercises of 
the afternoon closed with the benediction by Rev. F. J. 
Fairbanks of South Royalston. A program of sports had to 
be canceled because of the rain. The closing event was an 
old-home ball in the evening. 

The officers of the Old Home Association for 1910 were: 
President, Colin Mackenzie; Vice-Presidents, Chas. H. Brown, 
E. B. Hanson, L. B. Shepardson; Secretary, Mrs. Stella V. 
Newton; Executive Committee, L. G. Forbes, M. W. White, 
W. W. Davis and W. A. Frye. 



BIENNIAL REUNION OF OLD 

SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 7, WEST ROYALSTON 

JULY 23, 1902 

For several years the reunions of this old School District 
were most interesting occasions and largely attended, the one 
of July 23, 1902, being one of the most interesting, about 
seventy-five being present. Salmon Goddard of Athol, eighty- 
seven years old, was the president of the day, and his son 
Herbert S. Goddard, toastma.ster. Prayer was offered by 
Deacon Harvey Bliss of Winchester, N. H. The address of 
the day was by Judge Hamilton S. Peck of Burlington, Vt., 
and his subject was ''New England, its Character and Worth." 
Prof. J. K. Cole of Peabody, Mass., a former teacher in the 
district responded for "The New England Schoolmaster." 
Edwin Pierce of Chelsea gave "The personal recollections of 
the political influence of District No. 7 — ^ fifty years ago." 

A. J. Fisher of Orange spoke for the New England Singing 
Schoolmaster, and Dr. Frank W. Adams of Royalston for 
"The Country Physician," and Sheldon Moses of Worcester, 
eighty-eight years of age, read an original poem. The officers 
elected were: H. S. Goddard, Athol, president; Elmer Whitney 
Orange, vice-president; Mrs. P. H. Bliss, Athol, secretary and 
treasurer; A. M. White, Frank Louter and P. H. Bliss, 
executive committee. 



142 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

The first action in regard to celebrating the 150th Anni- 
versary of the town was at the Annual Town Meeting in 
March, 1915. 

Article 35 in the Warrant of March 1, 1915, was, "To see 
if the Town will vote to observe the 150th Anniversary of 
the Town, raise money for the same or act anything thereon." 
Under this article it was, "Voted to celebrate the Anniversary 
of the Incorporation of the Town, and voted to raise five 
hundred dollars for the purpose." Also, "voted that within 
one week a committeee of eleven shall be appointed by the 
Moderator of which Committee he himself shall be one, 
which shall have charge of the arrangements for the celebra- 
tion with full power to use and appropriate the money." 

In accordance with this vote, the Moderator named the 
following committee: Dr. Frank W. Adams, Charles H. 
Brown, Charles A. Stimson, Fred W. Cross, Walter N. Farrar, 
Lynn M. Crumb, Clarence H. Deland, Levvens G. Forbes, 
Luke B. Shepardson, Myron E. Stockwell, William B. Love- 
well. 

This committee met March 13, and organized with Dr. 
Frank W. Adams as Chairman, Charles H. Brown, Secretary, 
and Levvens G. Forbes, Treasurer, and voted that the 
celebration be held on August 1, 2 and 3, the big day of the 
celebration to be August 3. Sub-committees were appointed as 
follows : Speakers — Fred W. Cross, Dr. Frank W". Adams and 
Fred C. Nichols of Fitchburg; Finance — - Levvens G. Forbes, 
Wm. B. Lovewell, Walter N. Farrar; Music — Chas. A. 
Stimson, Myron E. Stockwell, Leota M. Richards; Evening 
Entertainment — ■ Chas. A. Stimson, Eri S. Stewart, Mrs. 
Addie Heath; Sports — Clarence H. Deland, Lynn M. Crumb, 
S. C. French; PubHcity — L. G. Forbes, Richard Bullock, 
Fitchburg, Wm. A. Frye; Dinner — Charles H. Brown, L. B. 
Shepardson, Walter N. Farrar; Transportation — Willard H. 
Newton, Miss Edith Metcalf, Herbert 0. Smith; Parade — 
Ernest L. Graves, Charles E. Richardson, John E. Cowick, 
Walter N. Farrar; Decorations — Mr. and Mrs. Colin Mac- 
Kenzie, Mr. and Mrs. Calvin H. Wilcox, Jerry E. Rich, 
Arthur C. Kendall; Grounds Committee — Chas. H. Brown, 
S. C. French, Wm. B. Lovewell; Anticjues and Curiosities — 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 143 

L. G. Forbes, Colin Mackenzie, Mrs. Walter N. Farrar; 
School Exhibits — Chas. E. Richardson, Eri S. Stewart, 
Nelhe W. Farrar; Committee on Drinking Water — W. W. 
Davis. 

At a later meeting officers of the day were elected as 
follows: President, Dr. Frank W. Adams; Secretary, Chas. H. 
Brown, who chose as his assistants, Mrs. Colin Mackenzie and 
Miss Bessie Mackenzie; Treasurer, L. G. Forbes; Chief Marshal, 
Walter N. Farrar, who chose as his aids, L. G. Forbes and C. A. 
Stim.son. The Reception Committee appointed consisted of 
PhinehasS. Newton, Mr. and Mrs. L. B. Shepardson, Mr. and 
Mrs. Donald M. Hill of Waban, Dr. Frank W. Adams and Mrs. 
Adams, Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Stimson, Rev. F. J. Fairbanks 
and Mrs. Fairbanks, and Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Raymond of 
Athol. The Vice-Presidents of the day were: Phinehas S. 
Newton, Caleb W. Day, George E. Whitney of Burlington, Vt., 
George D. Bolton, John S. Moore, Everard B. Hanson, Frank- 
lin H. Goddard, Col. A. George Bullock of Worcester, Rev. 
F. J. Fairbanks, Hamilton S. Peck, Esq. of Burlington, Vt., 
Frederick C. Nichols of Fitchburg, Benj. H. Frye, Wm. H. 
Leathe, Hon. Thomas N. Hart of Boston, George E. Pierce, 
A. C. White of Orange and Wellington Wliite of Owosso, 
Michigan. Frederick C. Nichols was chosen as toastmaster 
and Fred W. Cross to give the historical address. 

The general committee met frequently during the months 
preceding the celebration, holding twelve formal meetings 
from first to last, while the sub-committees also held many 
meetings and labored faithfully to ensure the success of the 
several parts entrusted to their care. The program, as 
arranged was successfully carried out during the three days of 
the celebration in all its details, and within the appropriation 
of five hundred dollars. 

SUNDAY SERVICES 

The opening services of the celebration were on Sunday 
morning, August 1, when the Congregational Church at the 
centre was fiilled by a congregation of over three hundred. 
It was a union service of the churches of Royalston Centre, 
South Royalston and West Royalston in which the pastors of 
the several churches took part. The program opened with an 
invocation by the pastor of the Centre Church, Rev. Clarence 



14-4- HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Pike, followed by a chorus, "Lovely Appear" by the choir; 
responsive reading; Gloria; hymn by the congregation; 
reading of Scripture, Rev. H. W. Curtis, pastor of the Baptist 
Church at West Royalston; prayer. Rev. F. J. Fairbanks, 
pastor of Second Congregational Church, South Royalston; 
response, male quartet; vocal solo, "The Song the Angels 
Sing," Mrs. Addie Heath, South Royalston. 

The sermon was by Rev. Asher Anderson, D.D., of 
Fitchburg. He took for his topic, "The children of thy 
servants shall continue and their seed shall be established 
before thee." Psalms 102:28. It was an able and strong 
presentation of the fact that God is still with us and in the 
world everywhere, despite existing terrible conditions. He 
referred to the Jewish race and the preservation of their 
identity through all the years of hardships and separation, 
and their faith in God. He said that we are gathered to- 
gether to remember God and reflect, and the dominant note 
should be "Lest We Forget." He referred to the church 
attendance in the early days of the country, and said he 
believed as a rule it was larger proportionately than to-day 
everywhere. The fathers did not forget or lose faith in God; 
if they had, this church would never have been erected or 
maintained. This sermon should be preserved in the archives 
of the town and church. The services closed with the 
singing of "America" and the benediction by Rev. Mr. Pike. 

EVENING SERVICES 

The evening services were well attended notwithstanding 
the rain, which commenced just before the hour for opening. 

The services began with an organ prelude, following which 
the choir gave a selection and there was reading of Scripture 
selections by Rev. Clarence Pike and a prayer by Rev. H. W. 
Curtis with response by a male quartet. After this Rev. 
Clarence Pike gave an address; Dana M. Dustan of Worcester, 
a college mate of the pastor and a former teacher at South 
Royalston, gave an address on "Education of our Public 
School System of the Past Fifty Years," Rev. F. J. Fairbanks 
spoke of the three institutions — the home, church and school, 
and Mrs. Jennie Richards of Athol rendered a solo. The 
last speaker was Lilley B. Caswell of Athol, a former teacher 
in both the Centre and South Royalston schools, and who is 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 145 

writing a history of the town. His subject was of a historical 
nature, and treated especially of the church history, and the 
character of the founders and early settlers of the town. 

SECOND DAY 

Monday, August 2, the second day of the celebration, was 
showery, but as this day was intended more for a social time 
and for visiting of old friends and acquaintances, the rain did 
not materially interfere with the plans arranged for. The 
chief place of interest to the visitors during the day was the 
schoolhouse, where there was a fine exhibition of the work 
which had been done by the pupils of the town, while the 
handsome new pul^lic library building contained many inter- 
esting things for the inspection of the visitors. Here were 
collections of curios, relics, ancient documents and old family 
heirlooms, and a fine display of beautiful specimens of beryl 
from the beryl mine of Mr. F. H. C. Reynolds. In the fore- 
noon there was a ball game between the Boy Scouts of 
Royalston and South Royalston, the score being eighteen to 
seven in favor of Royalston; and in the afternoon there was 
a game between the ball players of Royalston and South 
Royalston, in which Royalston was also the victor by a score 
of twenty-three to seven. 

THIRD DAY 

The last and great day of Royalston's celebration was 
ushered in by a sunrise salute fired from a cannon stationed 
on one of the surrounding hills. 

The last day's proceedings of the anniversary, Tuesday 
August 3d, was the grand climax of one of the most successful 
anniversaries ever held by any New England town. The 
weather was cool and clear during the forenoon and the events 
of the day drew more than three thousand people to the fine 
old Common, where the first feature of the day was a grand 
parade, which for artistic conception of the floats and the 
general makeup of the parade was a credit to the committees 
having it in charge, and is seldom surpassed b}^ even much 
larger communities that have much more material at their 
command. The parade started from the upper end of the 
Common near the schoolhouse about ten o'clock, and was 
led by Walter N. Farrar, chief marshal, with Levvens G. 



146 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Forbes and Chas. A. Stimson as aids. Chief W. A. Loomis 
and patrolmen J. F. Halloran, F. A. Graves and Perley 
Richards headed the parade, followed by Starrett's band of 
Athol. Several automobiles contained the officials of the 
celebration, veteran soldiers, the Selectmen, Charles H. Brown, 
Luke B. Shepardson and Alfred W. Neal, and Wellington 
White of Owosso, Mich., who is the only surviving member of 
the committee of arrangements of the Centennial Celebration 
of fifty years ago. Then followed a long line of floats con- 
taining the products of the towTi, both agricultural and 
manufactured, and the organizations of the town with other 
unique features. 

The judges of the parade were. Dr. D. H. Gatchell of 
Baldwdnville, E. D. Sargent of Winchendon and Wm. G. Lord 
of Athol, and they awarded prizes as follows: 

Best Float — Royalston Grange; second, Ladies' Benevo- 
lent Society of Royalston and Mountain View Farm; third, 
Eri Stewart and John Shepardson, Pike's Peak or Bust. 

Best Decorated Single Team — First, J. F. Stockwell; 
second, Mrs. Wilcox. 

Most Comical Feature — Charles Simonds. 

Special Features — West Royalston Surveyors. 

Following the parade there were sports on the Common. 

Shortly before twelve o'clock on the arrival of Acting 
Governor Gushing and his party a salute of seventeen guns 
was fired, and about half past twelve a procession was formed 
headed by Starrett's band of Athol, which proceeded to the 
large tent that had been erected between the Phinehas S. 
Newton Library and the summer residence of Donald M. Hill, 
formerly the Rufus Bullock mansion, where the anniversary 
dinner was served and the speaking of the day took place, and 
to which upwards of six hundred sat down. 

Chief Marshal Walter N. Farrar called the company to 
order and said: "Anticipation may be very agreeable, but the 
program that we are about to commence is certainly both 
practical and enjoyable. The citizens of Royalston have been 
looking forward to this hour which is to follow for several 
months and we consider ourselves extremely fortunate in being 
able to claim among the citizens of Royalston such an ideal 
president of the day, and it gives me great pleasure to intro- 
duce to your Excellency the speakers of the day, fellow 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 147 

citizens of Royalston and friends, our president of the day, 
Dr. Frank W. Adams." 

Dr. Adams after making one or two minor communications 
referred to the celebration of fifty years ago, and the com- 
mittee of fifteen who arranged it, and stated that WelHngton 
White, the only surviving member of that committee, was here 
to-day. He asked that gentleman to rise, which he did. Dr. 
Adams then called for all others who were present fifty years 
ago to rise, in response to which invitation fifty-two stood up. 

He then proceeded to give his address of welcome as 
follows: "Well, friends, the old town bids you welcome. 
Enthroned on these everlasting hills, surrounded by her faith- 
ful sentinels, Monadnock, Watatic, Wachusett, Bald Mountain, 
TuUy and Grace, standing guard at her outer gates, she bids 
you enter and share with her the social interviews and 
reminiscences, the songs and oratory, the sports and festivities 
of this glad day. She has waited for you one hundred and 
fifty years. Some of your faces she beheld here fifty years 
ago, and there are fifty-two of you, a little more than one for 
each year. Many other of your faces she hopes to see here 
fifty years to come, for she herself will live on to the end of 
the age. 

"Royalston is proud of her record. The youngest in the 
large family of fifty-nine cities and towns in Worcester 
County, she has nevertheless attained an enviable round on 
the ladder of fame, for her muscle, her brain, and her blood 
have given a beneficent impulse to the material, political and 
religious life of more than half the states of this union. Her 
governors and mayors, her judges and professors, her teachers 
and clergymen, her missionaries and her business men have 
done in the past, and are doing to-day, a noble work for the 
uplift of humanity. And extending to you this welcome 
to-day, sons and daughters of Royalston, she promises to 
watch over you for the next half century, fully confident that 
your varied activities will add a new lustre to the bright 
crown she already wears." 

The invocation was by Rev. F. J. Fairbanks of South 
Royalston. 

President Adams in introducing the Winchendon choir 
which rendered the anniversary hymn said: 



14-8 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

"Koyalston has always enjoyed the reputation of being a 
musical town. In the records of their earliest town meetings 
there was a sprinkling of appropriations for the 'encourage- 
ment of good singing.' That is the way the old settlers put 
it, meaning for the encouragement of music. There is music in 
the Royalston air; there is music in her forests, music in her rills, 
and wordless music in her very soil. I would like to demonstrate 
this proposition. When Royalston's greedier sister cities and 
towns of Worcester County had taken all the land they wanted, 
there remained only this bit of shapeless territory in this north- 
west corner of the county, and Royalston mildly accepted that as 
her share. It was all that was left. It was shaped in the form of 
a dipper; the body of the dipper with some modifications is the 
Royalston of to-day and the handle of the dipper stretched out to 
the eastward across the entire northern border of Winchendon 
across Lake Monomonac to the town of Ashburnham. This 
handle was three hundred rods wide and about seven miles 
long and enjoyed in the old records the euphonius title of 
the Royalston Leg. But it proved unwieldy, and it made our 
northern border on New Hampshire fifteen miles long, and in 
1820 the town consented to an amputation and the territory 
was ceded to Winchendon. But the territory retained its 
musical properties and in the course of time they permeated 
the whole township; and when this celebration was in contem- 
plation, the choir of the North Congregational Church in 
Winchendon, recognizing the original source of their musical 
inspiration, kindly offered to furnish the choral numbers for 
this program. And it gives me great pleasure to introduce to 
you Chorister E. D. Sargent and his noble choir." The choir 
then rendered Mr. Bosworth's Anniversary Hymn, which 
appears in another part of this work. 

President Adams then introduced the toastmaster of the 
day as follows: 

"Very good people sometimes make serious mistakes in 
choosing their birthplaces. The toastmaster named on the 
program of the day is a notable illustration of this fact. With 
the consent and co-operation of his parents he wandered 
away from Royalston down to the city of Fitchburg and was 
born there. But Royalston claims his childhood, his boyhood 
and his early manhood; and it was from Royalston that he 
went out into the larger activities of life. Royalston has 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 149 

always taken great satisfaction in witnessing the uniform 
success of his business career. They have taken a greater 
satisfaction in noteing the love and loyalty which he has 
always cherished for the home of his ancestors. He has been 
interested always in the welfare of her citizens, and his efforts 
for the success of this anniversary have been intelligent and 
tireless. The city of Fitchburg has conferred upon him 
many honors in the past and she has for him yet other and 
greater honors in reserve; but it is very doubtful if any honor 
that Fitchburg can give him will bring to him a thrill of more 
genuine satisfaction than the honor conferred upon him to-day 
of being toastmaster for the sesquicentennial feast of old 
Royalston. I introduce to you Mr. Frederic C. Nichols of 
Fitchburg." 

Mr Nichols said: "This magnificent gathering, the climax 
of the 150th anniversary celebration of the beautiful town of 
Royalston, should be an inspiration to anyone given an op- 
portunity to speak here. But I shall not, even to acknowl- 
edge the kindly words of our honored president, attempt a 
speech. Were I to do so, however, I should use as my text 
the words of Longfellow: 'We may build more splendid 
habitations; fill our rooms with paintings and sculptures; 
but we cannot buy with gold the old associations.' Though 
not born in Royalston, I was, to use the New England ex- 
pression, 'raised here'; and my associations and memories 
from a very small boy up to this moment are exceedingly 
pleasant. I believe it is but the simple truth when I say to 
you that no man living is prouder of the wonderful history of 
this town than I am. But that will be touched upon by 
Representative Cross, who, by the way, I hope to see attain 
even further political honors now that he has returned to his 
first and true political love. But it is in the Royalston of 
to-day and the future that I am most interested. I have 
thought over its problems quite as much as if I lived here, and 
have come to the conclusion that the brightest hope of the 
future is to restore this town to its former prestige as a 
farming community. The product of the soil, to my mind 
deaiands the first consideration, and a system must be in- 
volved by which the farmer may handle that which is produced 
in such a way as to retain for himself a fair share of the 
profits of his labor. The wealth of the world comes out of 



250 HISTORY OF ROYAI.STON 

the land, and man must dig for it. Adam was tokl in the 
Garden of Eden — Dr. Adams says this quotation is correct — 
'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.' From then 
until now 'the man with the hoe' has been the man who has 
added to the wealth of the world; and from that day there 
seems to have been implanted in every human breast an 
inclination to till the land. And this is well; for there seems 
to be something in the touch of the sod that gives strength 
and vigor and character to man. 

"It is an established fact that the great industries of the 
cities are built up and maintained ])y men who came from the 
rural sections. A recent canvass of one of the great cities has 
shown that out of one hundred successful men, eighty-five 
came from the country. There can be no question that our 
very civilization depends upon the character and strength of 
the life developed at the countryside. You who live here all 
the year round know, however, much better than we outsiders 
that the beautiful trees in these fields do not derive their 
strength from their blossoms nor from their fruit; their 
strength comes from their roots. So with a nation and a 
town. They are not fed from the top; they are not fed from 
the conspicuous people down; they are fed from the incon- 
spicuous people up. And those who tap the unexhausted soils 
and their virgin resources are the best feeders of a pure 
democracy and lay the foundation for the highest type of 
good citizenship such as have been and are now living in the 
lovely town of Royalston. 

"I sincerely trust, my friends, all the good things you did 
not get in the last fifty years may come to you before the 
200th anniversary and that you all may, with brave spirits 
and cheery hearts, reach the goal of your highest hopes. 

"We certainly have received inspiration from the splendid 
address of Dr. Adams, the thoughtful prayer of the Rev. Mr. 
Fairbanks, and we have a wonderful array of speakers here. 
In common with you all, I deeply regret the absence of 
Governor Walsh to-day. He intended to come to Royalston, 
and he would have enjoyed it here and you would have 
enjoyed hearing him speak. But we are fortunate in having 
the acting Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of the Common- 
wealth, Grafton D. Gushing here. I am going to ask you all 
to rise when I introduce to you the Honorable Grafton D. 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 151 

Gushing, acting Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of 
Massachusetts." 

Mr Gushing said that when asked some three months ago 
to save the third of August for Royalston he did not know 
that it would fall to his lot to have the honor to represent 
the Gommonwealth in the royal town of Royalston. "It is 
one of the pleasant duties of office to be allowed to come to 
gatherings of this sort, — to town gatherings. For a town 
has a particular atmosphere of its own. In a city there is no 
community of thought; there is no community of interest. 
In a town you all know each other; and when you come into 
a town you feel you get personally to know the inhabitants 
of the town. 

"The town meeting, is the most democratic form of govern- 
ment; it is the form of government that is at the basis of our 
institutions, and has been at the bottom of our prosperity. 
And the men who have gone out of the traditions of our form 
of government to other parts of the country have carried with 
them the American ideals, have founded new communities and 
have brought up their children to believe as we believed in 
good old New England." 

Referring to town and state expenditures he said: "But 
when you come to the great state, when you come to the 
complications of modern life, it is very difficult always to 
follow your expenditures. After all, you know, we are a 
pretty young nation and are not very well developed in the 
science of government; and from time to time we see the need 
of stretching out in some new direction. And the way we do 
it is to form a board or commission to oversee that particular 
part of our state's activities, with the result that we have in 
Massachusetts to-day over one hundred commissions, tempo- 
rary and permanent. Now all these are problems which 
cannot be solved in a day, but in course of time we shall be 
able to develop a system of control of expenditures. There 
is no place in the country where they are properly controlled. 
For they should bear equally on all and not unequally, as 
they do in Massachusetts to-day." 

Toastmaster Nichols in presenting Fred W. Gross said: 
' 'Since the days of Timothy Richardson, Royalston's first 
representative to the great and general court, Royalston 
has sent splendid men to do her honor under the Gilded Dome 



JSJ HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

in both the Senate and the House. Their influence has Ijeen 
lessened because their service was too short. For the first 
time in a very long period a man from Royalston has been 
sent for two consecutive years. He is to give the historical 
address, and there is no man better qualified. He is a credit 
to this or any other community, and he has helped to put 
Royalston on the map more, perhaps, than any other one man 
in a decade. He needs no introduction to you here, but it is 
a peculiar pleasure to present my personal and dear friend, 
your hustling representative to the Legislature, Fred W. 
Cross." 

Representative Fred W. Cross after referring to the intro- 
duction of the toastmaster said: "I am placed in a peculiar 
position. After a most excellent outline of Royalston's 
history has within a week been published in one of our local 
papers; after a talented preacher has preacher! an historical 
sermon in the neighboring church within two or three days; 
after the author of Royalston's forthcoming town history has 
at the evening service in that church given an outline of the 
church history in Royalston; and after the president on this 
occasion has touched upon some of the interesting and 
amusing things of Royalston's history, I am asked to give an 
historical address. But I am going to punish you just the 
same. Royalston invites you here to-day to celebrate with her 
not her age, but her youth. And while there are munici- 
palities boasting of their two hundred or two hundred and 
fifty years of history, she comes to tell you that she is only 
one hundred and fifty years old. But the book of those years 
has written upon its pages as many honorable records as you 
might wish to read." 

Mr. Cross then proceeded in a most eloquent manner to 
rehearse the history of Royalston, especially that relating to 
the part that the town took in the Revolution and the Civil 
War. At the close of his address Mr. Cross was given a 
hearty ovation, and was heartily congratulated by Senator 
Lodge and Lieutenant-Governor Cushing. 

Toastmaster Nichols in presenting Congressman McCall 
said: "Human nature in the country is the same as human 
nature in the city — one hundred cents make a dollar every- 
where. Our next speaker is a man who served for twenty 
years in our national Congress, and who is the same in the 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY JSJ 

city or in the country, and all the year round. In Congress 
he was reasonably independent, as we all know. I invited 
him to come here to Royalston to-day, and he accepted with 
genuine pleasure. He is as you will see him, a real gentle- 
man, living up to the highest ideals of good citizenship and 
meriting any honor that may be bestowed upon him. I 
present to you the Honorable Samuel W. McCall." 

Congressman MeCall said that he had been extremely 
interested in what he had learned to-day a])out the town of 
Royalston. "I had an idea from the fact that Royalston was 
named after Isaac Royal, and as Isaac Royal was a stanch 
loyalist and left this country during the Revolutionary War 
and went to England, I thought perhaps Royalston was 
something like a monarchical institution instead of the 
democratic little place which it really is. Then I have heard 
about that leg that is seven miles long, and I fear a political 
archaeologist may make from that a very sinister inference, and 
that is, that in those times they had a fierce lot of political 
mercenaries adequately to pull that royal leg. I am impressed, 
as I am always impressed when I hear historical addresses about 
the origin of our little communities in New England, with what 
terrible times those people used to have, struggling with the 
climate, with the ordinary hardships of an unsettled country, 
and especially with the Indians. But I imagine that they en- 
joyed themselves pretty well. We can make almost anything 
attractive and interesting. 

"So I fancy the people in the times of which we have 
heard so eloquently discussed to-day knew how to have good 
times; and Royalston seemed to be a pretty popular place 
in those days." He referred to local town government in a 
most interesting manner, saying: "While we commemorate 
the men and women who lived here one hundred and fifty 
years ago, and while we do honor to the services which this 
town has rendered to the country, we must not forget to 
think of the town as an institution of government. It lies 
at the very basis of the American system of government; 
it connects the man with the government. Things will 
gravitate fast enough to Washington and we have street after 
street there lined with buildings filled with clerks and bureaus 
of one hundred thousand people to carry on the work of this 
great government. And what can an average citizen know 



154 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

about it all? Government, when transferred five hundred or 
one thousand miles from us, becomes largely a matter of 
imagination; but })y having government right by where the 
people are, then it becomes a matter of their sense and of 
their perception^ And it is vital to keep alive our town 
governments, to maintain their jurisdiction. I know there 
are some disagreeable things connected with it. I have 
heard some town-meeting orators in my day. But by and by 
a town meeting will judge and will exercise justice in their 
judgment, and a man is likely to be suppressed in a town 
meeting as a nuisance who would pass by on the distant stage 
at Washington. 

"But it is well to keep our government as near as we can 
to the people if the people are to rule. If they are fit to 
rule, they should have a material part in the direction of 
affairs. If they are not fit to rule, then it follows it is well 
enough to send their government off to a great distance from 
them. So, let us remember to-day, in doing honor to this 
town, reverently to think of the place the town meeting has 
in our systerii of government." 

Hon. Calvin D. Paige, Congressman from this district, 
was next presented. He said in part: "The radical ideas 
advocated on the floor of the American Congress do not 
emanate from the old New England towns, and never have. 
From the earliest days of the Republic, the wisdom, the in- 
telligence, and the patriotism have found an abiding place 
here, and there has never been a time when it is more 
necessary that we stand together for New England, and for 
New England ideas than at the present time, in order that 
sanity may again prevail in the legislation of the country. 
Royalston sent her sons to establish independence in the 
colonies, and in the Civil War she sent her sons to preserve 
the Union. At no time has Royalston failed to respond to 
the call of the country. 

"We are no less patriotic than we were in those two great 
crises in the nation's history, when we say we do not purpose 
to be drawn into the terrible war raging across the sea. 
The stand that America is taking constitutes patriotism 
to-day. Nothing can be more patriotic in the light of the 
twentieth century than the triumph of a great nation over 
the elements of war and desolation, })ut if this policy does not 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 255 

triumph, then no sacrifice of life or treasure is too great to 
defend our country and our flag. For it has been proven 
that when occasion requires there is no more patriotic people 
than ours in all recorded history. 

"We have great problems of our own to solve — great 
questions to answer — and as they are solved and answered 
right or wrong, may depend the weal or woe of America for 
many years to come. But as I review our past history 
made under trying circumstances, I have no fear for the 
future. And may we not have confidence that in all the 
great issues that may come before the American people for 
solution we shall sustain the traditions of our predecessors?" 

Congressman Samuel E. Winslow was introduced by the 
toastmaster, as one who did not come to the anniversary to 
speak, but he would ask him to talk for a few moments. 
The genial Congressman then proceeded to entertain the 
company with humorous stories and well-timed allusions to 
the other speakers, which were received with roars of laughter 
and prolonged applause by the audience. 

Following Congressman Winslow's talk, Toastmaster 
Nichols in behalf of a number of friends and with most fitting 
words presented Dr. Adams with a purse of gold, to which 
the doctor responded in a most happy manner. 

Dr. Adams then introduced Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, 
who was given a most cordial greeting, the large audience 
rising in a body and giving him hearty cheers, while all 
through his address the sentiments that he expressed were 
applauded and cheered. 

The doctor's introduction of the Senator was a gem worthy 
to be preserved in the annals of Royalston history. He 
said: "At the close of the last session of Congress, about the 
middle of May, a member of that august body left the city 
of Washington for his home in Massachusetts. His friends 
were aware of his coming; and when he arrived at a station 
in his district near the end of his journey, one hundred 
thousand men and women, according to a Boston newspaper, 
irrespective of nationality, representing all shades of political 
complexion, enthused by the inspiring strains of several brass 
bands, and rending the air with their multitudinous cheers, 
thronged the streets of the city of Lynn. 



156 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

"It was a magnificent oYation, and wholly unprecedented 
as a 'welcome home' to a returning Senator. 

"Who is this man who has attained such a mighty grip on 
the heart-strings of Massachusetts, and who, on even an 
ordinary occasion, can raise the temperature of her sluggish 
blood to the boiling point? 

"Statesman, orator, historian, chairman of the Committee 
on Foreign Relations, adviser of Presidents, in international 
diplomacy without a peer, when he rises in his place in the 
upper branch of Congress, Senators sit up and take notice, 
and w^hen he speaks, the forty-eight States in this In'oad 
Union listen. Little Royalston is fairly bursting with pride 
to-day to have him on her platform, and it is not only with 
pride, but with exceeding great pleasure that I now present 
to you our senior Senator in Congress, the Honorable Henry 
Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts." 

ADDRESS OF HON. HENRY CABOT LODGE 

"Mr. President: 

"I cannot thank you enough for the overkind words in 
which you have presented me. They more than make up 
for the misfortune that I have in being the last to speak. 
In the first place, the greatest misfortune is that I have to follow 
Sam Winslow. None but himself can be his parallel, and I 
am certain that I cannot fill his place. And I have been the 
victim of all except the Lieutenant-Governor, with due 
regard to the fact that he is acting Governor of the State, 
who has said nothing; but my old friend, Sam McCall, of 
course had something to say about me in connection with the 
rain. My other old friend Paige seemed to take a very 
discriminating view of me, I thought. He is a good judge of 
men. And my young friend Sam Winslow, — you see how 
well I treat him - — also when he wasn't making fun of me, 
was saying nice things about me. But it all puts me in a 
rather embarrassing situation, — but the embarrassment of 
trying in the very short time I shall occupy to justify in 
some measure the words of your president and your toast- 
master, and the cordiality of the reception which you have 
been so kind as to give me. 

"It was pure pleasure to come here. I love to come to 
these town anniversaries. They have to me a peculiar 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 157 

attraction. I love to listen to an account of their past, very 
seldom set forth so admirably and with such real eloquence as 
it has been set forth to-day by your distinguished Represent- 
ative. 

"That sketch of your town history had all the human 
interest of an autobiography. We should have liked to have 
heard more if it were possible of the forefathers of the 
ham.let; but time does not serve. I am. not going to repeat 
or rehearse in any way the history of the town. It has the 
abiding attraction and charm to me of all our old New 
England towns. As Mr. McCall has said the town is the 
seat and center of local gelf-governn:ent ; and on local self- 
government as embodied in the town and in the State, rests 
the great union of the States; and the principles and the beliefs 
of the New England towai government have gone forth 
through the length and the breadth of the land; they have 
permeated, unconsciously perhaps very often, the beliefs of 
the entire American people. For they mean democracy; they 
mean self-government; they mean freedom of thought, 
freedom of speech and the right of every man to say the 
thing he will — very precious rights indeed. This old town was 
born one hundred and fifty years ago, just after what was 
known as the old French War and just before the war of 
the Revolution; and her sons went forth to fight in the 
Revolution, and again in 1812, and again in the Civil War. 
I was amazed at the size of the cjuota furnished by this town, 
as stated by Mr. Cross; but I noticed as he spoke, that the 
passages in the town history that came home to your hearts, 
that moved you to applause, that moved you, I am sure, to 
deeper emotions, were those passages in which he told you of 
the sacrifices of the Revolution, of the men who gave their 
lives and led their regiments and brigades in the Civil War. 
You were not moved and touched in that way merely because 
they were fighting men; it was because they were making a 
great sacrifice for a great principle; they were demonstrating 
by what they did that they believed that there were things 
for which it was worth while to sacrifice, not only treasure, 
but life itself. They believed that there were some things 
that ought not to be sacrificed in order that life and safety 
and the opportunity to make money might be preserved; and 
they freely offered up their lives for those principles which 



158 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

they learned in the town meeting, the independence of the 
country, the freedom of the country, the right of the people to 
rule, the determination that the Union should not be torn 
asunder no matter what it might cost to keep that Union 
together, the determination that democracy, as described by 
Abraham Lincoln, 'should not perish from the earth.' 

"And in every town in this Commonwealth, if you will go 
back over its history, you will read the same lesson — a lesson 
not amiss in these days when there are not lacking those 
who preach that there is nothing for which it is worth while 
to sacrifice treasure or life. I believe that in like hours of 
danger, the spirit of the country and the great mass of the 
people is the same to-day as it v/as in 1776 and in 1861. But 
there are voices which are crying out that there is nothing for 
which safety and life should ever be sacrificed. 

"Yes, we are, thank God, at peace. I trust and pray that 
that peace may be preserved. But it will not be preserved by 
mere words and language. The world to-day, the great world 
of western civilization, of which we are a part, is in an 
anguish such as history does not record. I cannot keep from 
my mind, as I read and listen to the awful news that comes 
to us day by day, I cannot refrain from thinking of the old 
mediaeval hymn which began, if I may quote the old Latin words, 
'Hora novis.sima, tempora pes.sima sunt, vigilemus.' Let us 
be watchful, the world is very evil, the times are waxing late. 
That thought must come to every reflecting mind. No man 
can say what may come out of that whirlpool of destruction 
which is now engulfing Europe. We must maintain our peace; 
yes, we must maintain our peace, not a peace at any price of 
humiliation, but a peace becoming a great and powerful and self- 
respecting nation. 

"Now, how, practically speaking, is that peace to be 
preserved? In the first place, we must maintain our neutral- 
ity. And neutrality brings not only its rights, but its duties. 
If we are to insist on the rights of neutrals, as we must and 
ought, we must perform our duty as neutrals. Under color 
of neutrality, we must not twist it so as to help one side or 
the other. We must be just to all &nd do wrong to none. 
And against any infringement of our rights we must protest, 
and we must make that protest understood with firmness and 



ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 159 

determination that we mean what we say. Better never say 
the words than not mean them. 

"Therefore the first thing is to maintain neutrahty if we 
would preserve our peace; protect our peace by justice and right- 
eousness toward all the nations with whom we now are on 
friendly terms. And in the next place, we must make clear 
to all the nations that our peace is not to be lightly 
invaded; that while we do justice to all and wrong to none, we 
will not permit or suffer wrong or injustice to be done to us, 
or to any of our people who have a right to look to the gov- 
ernment which they sustain for protection and support. For 
the government that does not protect its people will soon 
cease to have its people protected. We must make it clear 
that no nation can wrong or invade us without paying a 
heavy price therefor. By that I mean that this country 
should be properly prepared for its own defense. 

"Nothing is more idle than this argument, — if you can 
grace it with such a name, — that armament leads to war. 
What leads to war is the spirit and intent of the people who 
control the armament. The armament is but the evidence 
and the manifestation of the force of the government. When 
the Civil War broke out in this country, — a war which 
raged for four years, — neither side was prepared. Anyone 
would be laughed out of court who attempted to say that the 
Civil War in the United States was owing to lack of prepara- 
tion. It is just as reasonable to say that as to say that 
armament leads to war. 

"The value of armaments depends entirely on the purpose 
for which they are intended. It will be just as reasonable to 
say that we must abolish knives because a knife becomes 
occasionally a murderous instrument. The fact that the 
knife is a murderous instrument is owing to the purpose and 
intent of the man who holds it in his hand. It is not the 
fault of the knife. 

"I have heard it said, and on the floor of Congress too, 
about the springing to arms of eight million Americans; one 
gentleman said in the tide of rhetoric: 'Eight million men 
ready to spring to arms.' No doubt; I trust the patriotism 
of this country; but eight million men or eight thousand 
men cannot spring to arms unless they have arms to spring 
to. I am not going into details; it is easily proved, too 



160 HISTORY OF ROVALSTON 

easily proved, but that proper preparation for a country like 
this, which intends no conquest, which seeks to wrong no 
other nation, proper preparation for its own defense is a 
bulwark of peace and not of war. And one other thing 
that I would say in closing. This is a time to remember 
that we are Americans, that we are interested in the welfare 
of the United States, that we are determined to preserve her 
peace and her neutrality, and that any man who attempts to 
divide the American people on the line of sympathizing with 
one belligerent or another, — no matter how he sympathizes 
or what he feels, — is bringing in here and putting al)ove 
the interests of the United States the interests of other 
countries. He is bringing into this country race issues; and 
nothing could be more hostile to our welfare than to introduce 
the interests of foreign nations and race issues among the 
American people. Let us be simply Americans without any 
qualifying adjective prefixed to it. If we are not, if we prefer 
some other country and prefer the interests of that other 
country to the interests of the United States, then the place 
of that man is not here; he belongs to the country that 
commands the real allegiance of his heart. And if ever that 
country needed him, it probably is now. 

"Maintain the peace; maintain it by honest and just neutral- 
ity; maintain it by seeing to it that no one can attack you 
with impunity and that the world shall understand it. Be 
just to all nations; do wrong to none; remember that you are 
Americans, simply that and nothing more; and then you will 
have peace, and a peace that is worth having." 

At the conclusion of Senator Lodge's address, the Win- 
chendon choir was again introduced and rendered a selection 
which elicited a hearty encore, to which the choir responded 
with a second song, after which came the last number of the 
program, which consisted in the singing of "America" by the 
audience led by the band, and the exercises of the afternoon 
were ended. 



CHAPTER XI 
OLD ROYALSTON FAMILIES 

To one familiar with the old Royalston families and the 
homesteads formerly occupied by them scattered over these 
hills and valleys, and as on every side old cellar holes that have 
not already been obliterated by the hand of time, meet our sight, 
a feeling of sadness comes over us as our thoughts take us back 
when Royalston was one of the most important towns of the 
County. 

The old familiar names of Peck, Ballou, Walker, Holman, 
Cutler, Dexter, Bragg and Woodbury are not on the list of 
Royalston residents today. 

Wliile the descendants of these families have gone out into 
all parts of this country and in foreign lands, where they have 
become the leading spirits in the educational, religious and civic 
life of the Nation, yet wherever they roam there comes stealing 
over them recollections of the old town, its hills, valleys and 
streams, with the grand Old Monadnock looking down on all, 
and there comes to them the thought of Longfellow, when he 
says: 

''Happy he whom neither wealth nor fashion, 

Nor the march of the encroaching city. 
Drives an exile 

From the hearth of his ancestral homestead. 

We may build more splendid habitations, 

Fill our rooms with paintings and with sculptures. 

But we cannot 
Buy with gold the old associations." 



THE METCALF FAMILY 

Among the early settlers of Royalston were members of the 
Metcalf family, who were prominent in the early history of the 
town, and whose descendants furnish a long list of men and 
women who have been prominent in the educational, social and 



162 HISTORY OF ROVALSTON: 

business life of the countr3\ The original seat of the family 
was in Yorkshire, England. 

The emigrant ancestor of the Royalston Metcalfs was Michael 
Metcalf, the Dornix or embroidery weaver, of Norwich, who« 
is supposed to have employed some hundred or more men m. 
his shop in the city of Norwich, The passenger list of em'grants 
with the "'John and Dorothy," Master William Andrews of 
Ipswich, as examined April 8th, 1637^ includes Michael Metcalf 
and Sarah Metcalf ^ his wife, and eight children. Michael was 
admitted a freeman at Dedham July 14^ 1637; joined the church 
January, 1639; was Selectman in 164L His name stands on the 
committee to "Contrive the frabricke of a new meeting house/' 

The first Metcalf to appear in Royalston history was Cai^. 
Pelatiah Metcalf from Wrentham, Mass.,. who settled in the 
west part of Royalston. He built a saw mill on the site of the 
mill, later owned by Nathaniel Greeley; estabhshed a potash; 
was an active business man and a prominent citizen. Was 
Selectman in 1779, '82, '86, '88, '90, '91, and assessor in 1778 and 
1794. He was of the sixth generation from Michael Metcalf, and 
was born June 24, 1744, second child of Pelatiah Metcalf and Hep- 
zibah Mann. He married June 22, 1770, Lydia Eastey or (Estey) 
of Thompson, Conn., who was born May 12, 1749, and died 
1829. He died Oct. 19, 1807. Of the twelve children born to 
them eight died young and four lived to grow up. These were: 
Pelatiah, born July 29, 1780; Isaac, born Feb 3, 1783; Jacob, 
born June 7, 1785; Enoch, born Feb. 27, 1792. 

Pelatiah Metcalf, M. D., born at Royalston, Mass., July 
29, 1780, fifth child of Pelatiah and Lydia (Estey) Metcalf; 
married Abigail Hawes, who was bom Jan. 28, 1786. He settled 
as a physician in Pawtucket and Woonsocket, R. I., where he died 
Oct. 26, 1866. His wife, Abigail Hawes, died Jan. 13, 1871. 
They had two children : Charles Hermon Metcalf, photographer, 
born Oct. 22, 1822, died unmarried Sept. 23, 1870; Eleanor 
Ameha Metcalf, born Dec. 26, 1824. She married Nov. 18, 1844, 
Charles A. Smith of Woonsocket, R. I., who was born Nov. 
4, 1820, and died Feb. 23, 1879. They had three children. 

Jacob Metcalf, born at Royalston June 7, 1785, seventh 
child of Pelatiah and Lydia (Estey) Metcalf; married Sept. 
15, 1807, Charlotte Prescott, who was born March 12, 1787, and 
died May 19, 1843. After the death of his first wife, he married, 



THE METCALF FAMILY 163 

April 16, 1845, Nancy A, Thomas, of Winchendon, who was 
horn June 16, 1790, She died Sept. 16, 1847. He married for 
his third wife, Mary L, Gay of Baldwinvilk, Mass., Aug. 22, 
1848. She was born April 23, 1798. He died April 21, 1859, 
at the old place, "Under the Hill", where he was born and had 
lived all his life. His wife, Mary L. Gay, survived him, 
dying Feb. 11, 1878. Jacob Metcalf and Charlotte (Prescott) 
had four children. 

PelaliaJi Metcalf, oldest son of Jacob and Charlotte (Pres- 
cott) Metcalf, was born in KoyaJston May 21, 1808. Was a 
dry goods clerk and merchant in Boston; married June 19, 
1834, Olive Forbes, who was born Nov. 16, 1808, the daughter 
of James Forbes of Royalston. He died Sept. 7th, 1835, leaving 
no children. 

Jonas Prescott Metcalf, second son of Jacob and Charlotte 
(Prescott) Metcalf, was lx>rn at Royalston May 14, 1810; 
married Oct. 23, 1834, Harriet Jacobs, who was born Jan. 5, 
1816, daughterofJobnJacobsof Royalston. He died Nov. 1, 1843. 

Their children: George Prescott Metcalf, born June 13, 1837, 
died June 19, 1838. Harlan Pelatiah Metcalf, born at Royalston 
April 29, 1839, was married Oct. 4, 1859, to Ellen Maria Pierce 
of Royalston. 

Martha Harriet Metcalf, born Dec. 6, 1840, third child of 
Jonas Prescott and Harriet (Jacobs) Metcalf, married Henry 
A. Spofford of Fitzwilliam, N. H. They had no children of 
their own, but adopted Jessie Murdock Metcalf. Mrs. Spofford 
died Sept. 13, 1895. 

Prescott Mar ins Metcalf, born at Royalston June 1, 1843, 
fourth child of Jonas Prescott and Harriet (Jacobs) Metcalf, 
after the war settled in Norfolk, Va., where he was connected 
with the post office for some years, and afterwards cashier of 
a bank. He married there Sept. 10, 1863, Elvena Rolland, 
who was born March 11, 1841, of French parentage. He died 
March 19, 1890. They had seven children. 

Samuel Gregory Metcalf, third son of Jacob and Charlotte 
(Prescott) Metcalf was born at Royalston, April 1, 1814, and was 
for many years in partnership with his father in farming and 
lumber business. He married in 1844, Catherine Louisa Gale 
of Royalston, who died the same year. In 1850 the partnership 
with his father was dissolved, and he removed to Worcester. 
May 20, 1851, he married Sarah King Chaddock, who was born 



1(,4 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

May 30, 1821, in Middlebury, Vt., the daughter of Alvin and 
Salh' Chaddock. Samuel G. Metcalf and his new wife moved 
from Worcester to Leroy, N. Y., where their only son. Henry 
S. Metcalf, was born July 14, 1853. They moved in 1854 to 
Mt. Carroll, Carroll County, 111., where by dealing in real estate 
he became somewhat wealthy, but in 1868 was prostrated by 
paralysis, the result of sunstroke. He lived almost helpless 
and a great sufferer for some fourteen years, dying Oct. 1, 1882. 

Henry S. Metcalf, only son of Samuel Gregory Metcalf and 
Sarah (Chaddock) Metcalf, born July 14, 1853, graduated from 
Beloit College in 1879, and from Northwestern University Medi- 
cal School in 1886. While busy as a physician he has always 
been interested in education, serving several terms as president 
of the Mt. Carroll, 111., school board, and for years he has been 
president of the board of trustees of the Frances Shiner School 
of the University of Chicago. He died Dec. 15, 1916. 

Josiah Kidder Metcalf, fourth and youngest son of Jacob and 
Charlotte (Prescott) Metcalf, was born at Royalston Aug. 20, 
1826. He never married; was a teacher for many years; in 1865 
he entered the Christian ministry in the Baptist denomination, 
where he was very much beloved. His health began to fail in 
1877, and he preached his last sermon in April of that year, the 
sixth anniversary of his settlement. He died Jan. 15, 1878. 

Enoch Metcalf, born in Royalston Feb. 27, 1792, was the 
11th child of Peletiah and Lydia (Estey) Metcalf. He married 
Elizabeth Buffum April 13, 1813. He died Feb. 17, 1864. She 
died Feb. 1, 1883. They had five children: Caleb Bvffum Metcalf, 
born Fed. 13, 1814, at Royalston. Studied at Phillips Academy, 
Andover, under Samuel Taylor; graduated at Yale College in 
1842. Married Aug. 18, 1843, Rosana C. Barnes, sister of A. 
S. Barnes, the book publisher. He taught in Boston four years, 
then for ten years the Thomas Street School in Worcester, 
commencing April 16, 1846. In 1856 he established on Salisbury 
street, Worcester, his famous Highland Military Academy, over 
which he presided for thirty-two years, until 1888; then Super- 
intendent Emeritus. He died July 31, 1891, at Seabright, N. 
J., the summer home of his daughter. They had two children. 

Sarah Metcalf, only daughter of Enoch and Elizabeth 
(Buffum) Metcalf, was born at Royalston Sept. 3, 1815, married 
Jan. 28, 1839, Elihu S. Hunt, of Lowell, Mass. She died April 4, 
1864. They had four children. 



THE METCALF FAMILY 165 

Isaac Newton Mctcalf, second son of Enoch and Elizabeth 
(Buffum) Metcalf , was born at Royalston March 8, 1818, removed 
early to Lowell, Mass. Choir boy at old St. Anne's Church of 
Lowell, in 1833, when fifteen years old; on account of his extra- 
ordinary musical ability, was made leader of St. Anne's choir. 
In 1862 became Musical Director of All Saints Church, Worces- 
ter; later of St. John's Church, of which he was junior warden. 
He was teacher of music in the schools of both Lowell and 
Worcester for many years, and was well-known as a composer 
of music. Easter Sunday, April 10, 1887, at 9 p. m., in the office 
of the Worcester Spy, where he was reporting the exercises of 
the day, he dropped dead, just as he was saying, "What a per- 
fect Easter Day it has been." He married Nancy Aiken of 
Lowell, Aug. 6, 1844. They had seven children. 

Enoch B. Metcalf, third son of Enoch and Elizabeth (Buffum) 
Metcalf, was born in Royalston Dec. 14, 1823. Married Nancy 
Norton of Lowell. Died about 1865. They had two daughters. 

Charles Hovey Metcalf, born April 22, 1837. Died Dec. 20, 
1857. 

Isaac Metcalf, sixth child of Pelatiah Metcalf and Lydia 
Estey, was born Feb. 3, 1783, in Royalston at the old place, 
"Under the Hill" now called West Royalston. He acquired 
some education and was a very successful teacher in Royalston 
and adjacent towns and in Boston. In 1810 he bought the farm 
north of Royalston Centre, long known as the Metcalf farm, 
and later as the Mosman farm. It is now the summer home of 
his grand-daughter. Miss Edith Ely Metcalf. He was married 
Nov. 10, 1810, to Lucy Heywood, daughter of Silas and Hannah 
(Goddard) Heywood. She was born July 10, 1797, and died 
childless June 29, 1820. Isaac Metcalf married again, March 
1, 1821, Anna (Mayo) (Stevens) Rich, widow of Charles Rich of 
Warwick. She had been a scholar of his some fifteen years before 
when he taught school in Warwick. She was the daughter of 
Wilder Stevens of Warwick and Elizabeth Mayo of Roxbury, 
and was born March 1, 1787. He died in Boston April 17, 1830. 
She died in Elyria, Ohio, Jan. 2, 1866. They had four children: 
Isaac Stevens Metcalf, Joseph Mayo Metcalf, Lucy Heywood 
Metcalf and Eliab Wight Metcalf. 

Isaac Stevens Metcalf, oldest son of Isaac Metcalf and Anna 
Mayo Stevens Rich, was born Jan. 29, 1822, in Royalston. 
When a young boy he went with his half brother, Charles W. 



!()(, HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Rich, to Milo, Maine. He was a student in the Bangor High 
School, 1839 to 1841, after which he taught country schools 
winters and worked on a farm summers. He entered the sopho- 
more class in Bowdoin College in 1844, and graduated with his 
class in 1847. Went directly after college commencement to 
surveys on the Vermont and Massachusetts R, R., and was 
engaged in locating the line from Grout's, now Millers Falls, to 
Greenfield, and laying out the Connecticut River bridge. Later 
he was civil engineer on the N. H. Central R. R. Went west in 
the Spring of 1850, by stage over the Hoosac Tunnel Line to 
Troy, N. Y., down the Hudson to New York Citj^ thence west 
on the first train over the then opening Erie R. R., stopping at 
Westfield, N. Y., thence by stage coach to Erie, Pa.; thence by 
steamboat to Cleveland and Detroit; thence by the very new, 
and then crude, Michigan Central R. R., across the State to 
Michigan City, its then terminus. By steam ferry to Chicago, 
then of some 30,000 inhabitants. On the same steamer came the 
first locomotive engine ever brought to Chicago, intended to 
run on a little strap railroad just beginning from Chicago out 
toward Elgin, perhaps the first railroad out of Chicago. He was 
given charge of the construction of the second division of the 
Illinois Central R. R., and had charge of all the money spent, 
expending over half a million dollars. When the road was com- 
pleted in 1855 he went to Chicago and handed his books and 
vouchers to George B. McClellan, then finance clerk in the Chicago 
office of the railway company, afterwards General McClellan. 
The chief engmeer gave him a letter to the president and direc- 
tors of the road, saying that he had "done the most work with the 
least money'" of any division engineer on the seven hundred 
miles of road. He then returned to New England, and after 
spending a year, settled in Elyria, Ohio, Nov., 1856, and 
made his home there until his death. 

In Elyria he held many public positions. Was Township 
Trustee all through the Civil War times, and Colonel of the local 
Volunteer Militia. He was long a member of the Board of 
Education and for a time its President; held the offices of Ceme- 
tery Trustee, County School Examiner and Secretary of the 
County Agricultural Society. He was for many years clerk, 
secretary and treasurer of the First Congregational Church 
and Society, and-was elected deacon for life. He was a director 
of the Savings Deposit Bank from its organization. He married 




JACOB METCALF 





3: "t. Ti •j^'' 

ISAAC STEVENS METCALF 



ELIAB WIGHT METCALF 



THE METCALF FAMILY 16? 

July 5, 1852, Antoinette Brigham Putnam, daughter of Rev. 
John Milton Putnam of Dunbarton, N. H., and Arethusa Brigham 
of Westboro, Mass. She died in Elyria, Aug. 14, 1875. They 
had twelve children, He married second, in Elyria, March 25, 
1878, Harriet Howes, daughter of William Howes and Elizabeth 
West, who was born July 17, 1850, at Gatonwood House, 
Northampton, England. She died, in Elyria Dec. 7, 1894. They 
had six children. He died in Elyria Feb. 19, 1898, in the house 
which had been his home since 1857. 

The children of Isaac Stevens and Antoinette Brigham 
(Putnam) Metcalf were: 

1 Wilder Stevens Metcalf, born at Milo, Maine, Sept. 10, 1855, 
graduated Elyria High School, Oberlin College, and Kansas Univ- 
ersity Law School; colonel of Twentieth Kansas Volunteers in 
Spanish American War, Brevet Brigadier General, nine years 
United States pension agent, Topeka, Kansas; member National 
Militia Board under appointment of secretary of War; President 
Board of Education and Y. M. C. A. ; Director Lawrence National 
Bank; dealer in Farm loans; resides at Lawrence, Kansas. 

2 Charles Rich Metcalf, born in Elyria, Ohio, Aug. 1, 1857. 
Elyria Public schools; in farm loan business, Lawrence, Kansas. 

3 Marion Metcalf, born at Elyria, May 1, 1859, graduated 
Elyria High School and Wellesley College; teacher Wellesley 
College and Hampton Institute, Virginia; Parish Visitor First 
Congregational Church, Oberlin, Ohio, County Board, etc. 

4 Anna Mayo Metcalf, born at Elyria July 26, 1862, grad- 
uated Elyria High School and Oberlin College; married April 
30, 1887, to Azariah Smith Root, Librarian Oberlin College. 
Two children: Francis Metcalf Root, graduated Oberlin College, 
graduate student in Zoology in Johns Hopkins University; 
Marion Metcalf Root, class of 1917, Oberlin College. 

5 Rev. John Milton Putnam Metcalf, D. D., born Oct. 28, 
1864, graduated Elyria Pubhc Schools, Oberhn College, Union 
Theological Seminary, New York City, University of Berlin, 
has been pastor of Congregational churches in Wallace, Kansas; 
St. Louis, Mo.; Professor in Oberhn Theological Seminary; 
now President of Talladega College, Talladega, Ala. Two chil- 
dren: FrankHn Post Metcalf, graduate Oberlin College, graduate 
student and instructor in Botany, Cornell University; Robert 
Wilder Metcalf in Oberlin College. 



168 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

6 Rev. Paul Harlan Metcalf, born Elyria. June 25th, 1867, 
graduated Elyria Public Schools, Oberlin College, Oberlin Theolo- 
gical Seminary; Y. M. C. A. Secretary and assistant Pastor of 
Congregational churches in South Bend, Indiana, Grand Rapids, 
Mich., Des Moines, Iowa, Elyria, Ohio; and social settlement 
headworker, Youngstown, Ohio. Now Executive Secretary 
Euclid Avenue Congregational church, Cleveland Ohio. Four 
children. 

7 Grace Ethel Metcalf, born Elyria, Ohio, May 5, 1870, 
graduated Elyria Public Schools, Oberlin College, married 
Elyria, Aug. 5, 1895, to Harold Farmer Hall, died Chicago 
April 23, 1896. 

8 Henry Martyn Metcalf, born Elyria Sept. 11, 1871, grad- 
uated Elyria High School, Oberlin College, and Medical School, 
University of Pennsylvania. Physician and surgeon Elyria, 
Ohio. One son. 

9 Antoinette Putnam Metcalf, born Elyria Sept. 7, 1875, 
graduated Elyria High School, Oberlin College; reference libra- 
rian Oberlin College and Wellesley College. 

Children of Isaac Stevens and Harriet (Howes) Metcalf. 

1 Ralph Howes Metcalf, born Elyria Jan. 9, 1879. Fitted 
for College in Elyria High School, died Dec. 10, 1894. 

2 Joseph Mayo Metcalf, born in Elyria Oct. 30, 1880, 
graduated Elyria High school, Oberlin College and Harvard 
University. Division engineer Missouri, Kansas and Texas 
railwaj\ Address Muskogee, Okl. Four children: 

3 Eliah Wight Metcalf, born Elyria, Dec. 26, 1881, graduated 
Elyria High School, Kansas University; civil engineer Chicago, 
Milwaukee and Puget Sound railroad, address Seattle, Wash- 
ington. 

4 Isaac Stevens Metcalf, Jr., born Elyria, Ohio, Sept. 14, 
1883. Graduated Elyria High School, Oberlin College, journalist 
on editorial staff of Daily Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio. One 
son. 

5 Keyes Dewitt Metcalf, born in Elyria, April 13, 1889, 
graduated Elyria High School, Oberlin College, New York 
Library School. Now an assistant in New York City Public 
Library, married Martha Gerrish, June 16, 1914. 

6 Thomas Nelson Metcalf, born Elyria, Sept. 21, 1890. 
Graduated Elyria High School, Oberlin College, graduate 
student Columbia University, and College of Physicians and 



THE METCALF FAMILY 169 

Surgeons, teacher of physical training Horace Mann School, 
New York City, football coach Columbia University, Married 
Helen Waller, Dec. 23, 1915. 

Joseph Mayo Metcalf, second son of Isaac Met calf and 
x\nna M. Stevens Kich, was born at Royalston July 25, 1823. 
AVas educated in tho public schools of Milo, Me., and the Boston 
High School. Taught school and was in business a short time. 
Died in Miio, Me., Dec. 31, 1850. With sUght advantages of 
<^ducation, he was "a thorough scholar, a hero, a Christian 
gentleman." 

Lucy Heywood Metcalf, third child of Isaac Metcalf and 
Anna M. Stevens Kich, was born at Royalston, May 20, 
1825. Was educated in common schools of Milo, Me., and 
Foxcroft Academy. Taught school. Married at Milo, May 
17, 1848, to Samuel Wlnkley Furber, who was born May 2, 1819. 
lived in Bangor, Me. She died in Bangor Aug. 26. 1856. He 
died at Northfield, Minn., Sept. 19, 1895. They had three 
children. 

EUab Wight Metcalf, fourth and youngest child of Isaac 
Metcalf and Anna M. Stevens Rich, was born at Royalston 
April 18, 1827. The family moved to Boston the same year, 
and a few years later to Milo, Me. He became a member of 
the Congregational Church in Milo when nine years old. Taught 
two schools in Milo in winter of 1844 and 1845, and in April, 
1845, just before his 18th birthday, he walked to Bangor, thirty- 
three miles, and became clerk and bookkeeper in the store of 
Walter Brown and Son, dealers in general merchandise and 
lumber. From 1851 till October, 1865, in business for himself 
in Bangor, lumber, ship chandlery and ship Iniilding. During 
the Civil War went at five different times, at his own expense, 
in the service of the Christian Commission. After the war 
in October, 1865, moved with his wife and five children to Elyria, 
Ohio. He dealt in timber lands in Pennsylvania, Southern 
Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. Having lost a vessel burned 
by the English built cruiser, Shenandoah, he spent twelve 
winters in Washington, advocating the theory (which he origi- 
nated), that the forty-nine marine insurance companies, who 
claimed many millions of the Geneva Award, were entitled 
to nothing unless they could show actual loss above war pre- 
miums received. This theory was finally adopted by Congress, 
thus making it possible to pay from the Geneva Award for all 



170 HISTCJliY OF ROYALSTON 

the actual loss caused by the Confederate cruisers for which 
the losers had received no indemnity, and also for about one- 
third of tlie proved losses by the payment of war premiums. 
As attorney in fact collected for other losers a large number 
of claims, besides that for his own ship. He carried to a success- 
ful issue in the Supreme Court of the United States a suit against 
the city of Watertown, Wis., involving a new and important 
constitutional question. He was actively interested, both in 
Maine and Ohio, in temperance legislation, and drafted the 
County local option bill, which under different names and forms 
was before the Ohio Legislature for several years and became a 
law in 1909. It was advocated hy th? Ohio Anti-Saloon League 
of which he was one of the founders and in whose support and 
management he was earnest and untiring. He was trustee of 
Oberlin College for 19 years till his deith. He married April 
6, 1853, inEasthampton, Mass., Eliza Maria Ely, born at North 
Mansfield, Conn., Dec. 9, 1828, daughter of Rev. William Ely 
and Harriet Whiting. She had taught in Philadelphia and was 
Principal of the Ladies' Department at Williston Seminary, 
Easthampton. They had nine children of whom four died in 
infancy. 

Irving Wight Metcalf, oldest son of Eliab Wight and Eliza 
(Ely) Metcalf, was born Nov. 27, 1855, in Bangor, Me. Educated 
in Bangor and Elyria public schools. Graduated Oberlin College 
1878. One year at Andover Theological Seminary and two 
years at Oberlin Theological Seminary from which he graduated 
in 1881. Ordained Jan. 31, 1882, as pastor of Eastwood Congre- 
gational Church, Columbus, Ohio, which he organized and of 
which he was pastor from Sept. 1881, to May 1889. Orgmized 
Central Congregational Church of Dayton, Ohio, and Hough 
Avenue Congregational Church, Cleveland. Superintendent 
Congregational City Missionary Society of Cleveland, associate 
pastor of Pilgrim Congregational Church, Cleveland, Secretary 
Board of Ministerial Relief of the Congregational Association 
of Ohio. In business from 1897. Officer and director of several 
corporations. Trustee of Oberlin College, Chairman Church 
Property Committee, National Council of Congregational 
Churches. Married in Elyria, May 20, 1885, to Flora Belle 
Mussey, who was born Dec. 15, 1857, daughter of Henry E. and 
Caroline M. Kendall Mussey. She graduated from Elyria 
High School, 1875, and Wellesley College, 1881. They have two 




ISAAC METCALF HOUSE 
Now the Summer Home of His Grand-daughter, Miss Edith Ely Metcalf 




OLD METCALF HOUSE "UNDER THE HILL' 
Oldest House in Royalston 



THE METCALF FAMILY /7/ 

children, Edith Eastwood, graduate of Wellesley College and 
Harold Mussey, graduate of Oberlin College. 

EdUh Ely Metcalf, daughter of Eliab Wight and Eliza (Ely) 
Metcalf, v/as born in Bangor, Me., May 18, 1859. Elyria PubUc 
Schools, Oberlin College, and graduated from Wellesley College 
in 1880. Studied at Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Herkomer 
School, Bushey, Herts, England and in Paris. Cataloguer in 
Newberry Library, Chicago, student Bible Institute, Chicago, 
Ha'* written several booklets about religious and social work 
in Chicago, and established in that city a free kindergarten. 
In 1902 she purchased the farm known for many years as the 
Mossman farm, formerly the Metcalf farm, which was the 
home of her grandfatlier Isaac Metcalf, and the birthplace of 
her father, in the north part of Royalston. She has made exten- 
sive improvements on the farm and buildings, and here she spends 
her summers. 

Lucy Heijwood Metcalf, daughter of Eliab Wight and Eliza 
(Ely) Metcalf, born Bangor, Me., March 29, 1857, Elyria Pubhc 
Schools and Oberlin College. Married Elyria, Nov. 26. 1876 to 
Eev. Augustus G. Upton, who graduated Elyria PubUc Schools, 
Oberlin College and Theological Seminary and was Tutor in 
Oberlin College, pastor of Congregational churches in Windham 
and Wakeman, Ohio, Wayne, Michigan, Norwich, N. Y., Denver, 
Col., and Weiser, Idaho. Supt. New York State Home Mission- 
ary Society with residence at Syracuse, Librarian Colorado 
College, Principal of Weiser Academy, Ti^ho. He died in 
Colorado Springs, Colorado, Nov. 20, 190. Mrs. Upton resides 
in Colorado Springs. One daughter. Marguerite Edith, graduate 
Barnard College, married Ernest Brehaut, a professor in Colorado 
College. 

Wilmot Vernon Metcalf, son of Eliab W. and Eliza (Ely) Met- 
calf, born Bangor, Me., Sept. 2, 1860. Elyria Pul)lic Schools 
and Oberlin College, 1883, Johns Hopkins University, Univer- 
sity of Wurtzburg, Germany, and University of Leipsig. Pro- 
fessor of Chemistry and Physics Whitman College, Carleton 
College, Fisk University. Married in Taunton, Mass., to 
Caroline G. Soule, graduate of Wellesley College, 1880, Teacher 
in Clinton College, Kentucky and Wellesley College. They have 
two children, Rachel Victoria, student in Grinnell College, Iowa, 
and Oberlin College and Norman Wight, in Oberlin High School. 



1J2 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Maynard Mayo Metcalf, youngest son of Eliah Wight and 
Eliza (Ely) Metcalf, born Elyria, Ohio, March 12, 1868. Elyria 
Public Schools, Central College Academy, Oberlin College, 
1889. Ph. D. Johns Hopkins University, University of Wurtz- 
burg, Germany, Professor of Zoology Goucher College, Balti- 
more and Oberlin College. Trustee Marine Biological Labora- 
tory, Woods Hole, Mass. Married in Elgin, 111., Sept. 10, 1890, 
to Ella May Wilder, Oberlin College, 1889. One daughter, 
Mildred Ella in Oberl'n Public Schools. Author Organic Evolu- 
tion and various papers on Zoological subjects. 



THE BROWN FAMILY 

The pioneer ancestor in America of the Brown family of 
Royalston was Nicholas Brown ; he was the son of Edward Brown 
and Jane Side, daught^ of Thomas Side. The father lived and 
died in the parish of Inkbarrow, Worcestershire, England, and 
the son, Nicholas, was doubtless born there. Nicholas Brown was 
in Lynn in New England before 1638. His son John's name 
appears in the Indian deed of Lynn as "ye Worshipful Mr. 
Brown", This son, John, was sent to England in 1660 to look 
after the property of his father-in-law, which as next heir to 
the Side estate, he had inherited. 

Joseph Brown, son of Nicholas Brown, married Elizabeth Ban- 
croft, whose mother was Elizabeth Metcalf, daughter of Michael 
Metcalf, the emigrant ancestor of the Royalston Metcalfs, 
thus linking in Old England, these two prominent families of 
Royalston. The first member of the Brown family to settle in 
Royalston was W^illiam Brown of the sixth generation; he was 
a son of General Benjamin Brown, and was born in Reading, 
Mass., April 1, 1758. He married Martha Richardson, who 
was probably born in Lynnfield, Mass. He was a soldier in the 
Revolution and marched with his father on the Lexington alarm 
in the Reading company. He was also in the Train Band under 
John Walton, captain. May 13, 1775. He settled in Royalston 
about 1790, on what has been known as the Prouty place. He 
was a tanner by trade and built a tannery on his farm. He 
bought of Elder Whitman Jacobs, the farm south of and adjoin- 
ing Newton's, annexed to his farm the Thomas Heminway 
place, and became a large landed proprietor. In his later years 




COLONEL BENJAMIN BROWN 



THE BROWN FAMILY 173 

he settled his son, Colonel Benjamin Brown, with him on the 
farm, which has been in possession of his descendants to the 
present time. Wilham Brown died in Royalston Dec. 23, 1830. 
His widow died there Jan. 16, 1851, aged ninety years, nine 
months, seven days. The children of William and Martha 
(Richardson) Brown were: William, born April 15, 1784, died 
at the age of nineteen years; Benjamin, born May 16, 1787; 
Otis, born Sept. 11, 1793, died Aug. 19, 1796; Hannah, born 
Dec. 13, 1795. 

Benjamin Brown, second child of William Brown, was born 
at Reading, Mass., May 16, 1787, and came to Royalston with 
his parents. He married Betsey Reed of Winchendon May 19, 
1814. He was prominent in town and public affairs; commanded 
the Royalston grenadiers when they marche:! for the defence of 
Boston in the war of 1812, was a colonel in the mihtia, served 
two terms in the General Court, was Selectman six years between 
1821 and 1836, and held other town offices. The children of 
Benjamin and Betsey (Reed) Brown were: Wilham Otis born 
March 30, 1815; Isabella R., born May 3, 1818; Eliza Morse, born 
Oct. 18, 1820; Mary Richardson, born Dec. 29, 1822, died Jan. 10, 
1823; Benjamin Hammond, born July 31, 1824; Edward Augus- 
tus, born Aug. 7, 1827; Moses Reed, born April 1, 1830; Elizabeth 
Reed, born March 22, 1833. 

Hannah Brown, daughter of William Brown, married William 
Pierce of Royalston and (second) Samuel Dadmun of Fitchburg, 
where she lived. 

William Otis Brown, oldest child of Col. Benjamin Brown, 
was born in Royalston March 30, 1815. He was brought up on 
his father's farm and received his early education in the district 
schools of Royalston. He worked at mechanical trades when a 
young man in his native town, and in 1854 removed to Fitchburg 
where he started in business as a dealer in grain and flour with 
his brother Edward A. Brow^n, and W. A. Crehore, under the 
firm name of Brown, Crehore & Co., In 1857 he formed a 
partnership with Ex-M lyor H. A. Blood. He enlisted as quarter- 
mister in the Twenty-Fifth Mass. Regiment, and was mustered 
into service with the rank of first lieutenant Sept. 20, 1864. 
Soon after the capture of Newbern, North Carolina, he was 
appointed first commissary at that important point. After 
the close of the war he held a responsible position on the con- 
struction of the Hoosac Tunnel which was then being excavated 



IJ4 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

under the state management and remained in that position 
until the contract for the completion of the tunnel was let to 
the Shanleys in 1869. 

He had a long record of public service both in town and 
county and was highly esteemed as a discreet, conservative and 
thoroughly honest official. He was Selectman of Fitchburg 
from 1857 until 1861, and after his return from the war in 186-5, 
1866 and 1870. After Fitchburg became a city, he represented 
ward three in the board of aldermen in 1888, and served on the 
committees on police, highways, city property and buildings. 
He was elected County Commissioner of Worcester County 
in 1868, and re-elected six times. He completed his twenty- 
first year of continuous service at the close of 1889, only a few 
months before his death, when failing health compelled him to 
decline a re-election. In January, 1877, he succeeded J. Warren 
Bigelow as chairman of the board, a position which he held during 
the remainder of his term of service. He was one of the incor- 
porators of the Wachusett National Bank of Fitchburg, which 
began business June 1, 1875, and was a director to the time of 
his death, and vice-president since Jan. 9, 1877. For several 
years he was treasurer of the Walter Heywood Chair Manu- 
facturing Co., and was a director of the Fitchburg Mutual Fire 
Insurance Company. He married Hannah G. Heywood of 
Royalston Nov. 25, 1841. She died in October, 1868. She bore 
him two sons, George and Charles, who died at the ages of 
thirteen and nine years, respectively. He married (second) 
Oct. 4, 1870, Rosa Heywood, daughter of Walter and Nancy 
(Foster) Heywood of Gardner. The}- had no children. He died 
Jan. 29, 1890. 

Isabel R. Brown, eldest daughter of Benjamin and Betsey 
(Reed) Brown, was born May 3, 1818. She married John 
Forrester Brooks of Petersham April 28, 1842. Mr. Brooks was 
for many years the well-known proprietor of the Massasoit 
House in Barre. She was a person of strong character and many 
sterling qualities. 

Eliza Morse Brown, born Oct. 18, 1820, never married. She 
resided in Royalston and Fitchburg and died in 1913 in her 93d 
year, after a long and useful life, always lending her influence 
for what was right and good 

Moses R. Brown, was born April 1, 1830, and died Jan. 27, 
1864, at the age of thirty-four years, during the Civil War, 




BENJAMIN HAMMOND BROWN 



THE BROWN FAMILY 175 

from which he was prevented participating on account of ill 
health. 

Benjamin Hammond Brown, was born at Royalston July 
31, 1824, a son of Col. Benjamin and Betsey (Reed) Brown. He 
was educated in the public schools of the town, and his early 
life was spent on the home farm. He worked for a number of 
years in Winchendon, Mass., and Waterville, Me. On Jan. 10, 
1853, he left New York on a saiHng vessel bound for Australia 
via Cape of Good Hope, Africa, and after spending twelve days 
at Cape Town reached Australia after a voyage of nearly four 
and one-half months. He spent about nine years in that country 
and returned to the United States in 1862 via Cape Horn, South 
America, thus completing a sea voyage around the world. On 
Oct. 17th of that year he enlisted in Co E of the 53d Mass. 
regiment, of which he was commissioned First Lieutenant, and 
was mustered out Sept. 2, 1863. On Oct. 14, 1864, he was 
married to Nancy Lord Wood, also a native of Royalston. 
They settled upon the home farm, where they resided for more 
than forty years, and where five sons and one daughter were 
born to them, all of whom are now living. His interest in the 
welfare of his country never waned, and he was always very 
patriotic. He took an active part in the affairs of his town and 
held various offices, being chosen as selectman, assessor and for 
many successive years overseer of the poor and school committee. 
In 1870 he represented his district in the Legislature. He wa-; 
a charter member of Royalston grange, and was a regular 
attendant of its meetings as long as his health permitted. In 1904 
he moved to the centre of the town where he spent the remaining 
years of his life and died Oct. 14, 1910, at the age of eighty-six 
years. 

The children of Benjamin Hammond Brown are: 

Charles H. Broum, born in Royalston Feb. 3, 1865, whose 
sketch will be found on another page of this history. 

Frank H. Brown, born Nov. 21, 1866, married Florence 
Forbes Ruggles of Fitehburg, March 6, 1895. He resides in Fitch- 
burg and was cashier of the Wachusett National Bank before 
consolidation, since which he has been Assistant Cashier of the 
Fitehburg Bank and Trust Co. Has no children. 

William L. Brown, born May 1, 1868, married Sadie E. 
Skelley of Chelsea, Mass., June 4, 1894. Is manager of a boot 
and shoe store In Chelsea. No children. 



IJ(, HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

Benjamin E. Brown, born Nov. 15, 1869, married Susan 
Josephine Geddes of Winchendon, June 28, 1899. He is now a 
member of the firm of the Demond & Brown Chair Co., of Win- 
chendon, Mass. No children. 

Isabslle E. Brown, born March 2, 1875, married Rev. Augus- 
tus M. Rice of Sturbridge, Mass., Aug. 17, 1898. No children. 

Arthur H . Brown, born March 9, 1877, married Florence 
May Ritchie of Fitchburg, June 14, 1905. He is Assistant Treas- 
urer Fitchburg Savings Bank, Fitchburg, Mass. Had one son, 
Robert Arthur Brown, born June 23, 1912, and died July 28, 1913. 

Edward Augustus Brown, son of Colonel Benjamin Brown, 
was born in Royalston Aug. 7, 1827. He was educated in the 
public schools of Royalston and at Westminster Academy. 
After leaving home he was employed first by Capt. Ephraim 
Murdock of Winchendon in his wooden ware establishment 
for about two years. In 1854 he went to Fitchburg in the store 
of Brown, Crehore & Co. The following year he went west 
and located in Beloit, Wisconsin, as a dealer in furniture and 
remained there until the fall of 1859, when he returned to Fitch- 
burg and was employed in the flour and grain store of Blood & 
Brown for whom he worked until he enlisted in the Twenty- 
Fifth Mass. Regiment when it was organized and was made 
quarter master-sergeant. The regiment went into camp Sept. 
20, 1861. It was in the Burnside expedition to Roanoke Island 
and Newbern. In the fall of 1862 he was appointed first 
lieutenant and quartermaster of the Fifty-third Massachusetts 
Volunteers, and went with his regiment to Louisiana where 
he was stationed during the remainder of his service with that 
regiment. After the nine months of his enlistment had expired 
and he was mustered out, he returned to Newbern and worked 
in the commissary department until the summer of 1864, when 
he received from President Lincoln a commission as commissary 
of subsistence with the rank of captain, and remained in the 
service until the surrender at Appomattox Court House and the 
close of the war. He was also breveted major by President 
Andrew Johnson and discharged as such. He was mustered 
out October 2, 1865, after more than four years of service. He 
returned to his father's home in Royalston and assisted him until 
his father died in February, 1866. 

On the first of May following he was appointed general 
passenger and ticket agent of the Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg 




MRS. NANCY (WOOD) BROWN 



THE BROWN FAMILY IJJ 

raUroad with central office in Fitchburg, wliicli position he held 
until he resigned Jan. 20, 1876, to accept the appointment of 
county treasurer to fill an unexpired term of Charles A. Chase 
who had resigned. He was re-elected at the expiration of each 
of his three year terms of office until 1912 when he declined to 
be a candidate for another term. He served continuously for 
a period of thirty-six years, a longer time than any other treas- 
urer of Worcester County has served. While a resident of Fitch- 
burg he was, in 1875, a member of the Common Council. 

He married Sept. 13, 1869, Bessie Maria Harding, daughter 
of Theodore and Nancy (Clark) Harding of East Medway, Mass- 
She was born April 14, 1841, and died at Worcester Aug. 15, 1903 
He died Jan. 6, 1916. 
The children of Edward Augustus and Bessie Maria Brown are: 

Anna Grace, born at Fitchburg Feb. 5, 1872, married Dec. 
25, 1899, to Clifford Raymond Harris, graduate of the Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute 1897. They have two children. 

^arah Ahbie Brown, born Feb. 22, 1875, and Mary Alice 
Brown, born Aut. 30, 1879, reside at home with their father. 

Elizabeth R. Brown, youngest daughter of Col. Benjamin and 
Betsey (Reed) Brown, was born March 22, 1833, her education 
was received in the public and high schools of Royalston and in 
the Academies at Townsend and Westminster, Vt. She began 
teaching in what was known as the Cutler district in Royalston 
and after teaching several terms in her home town and neigh- 
boring towns, transferred her field of labor to the West spending 
four years in the graded schools of Beloit, Wisconsin, five in 
Lycamoie, 111., after which she went to Chicago in 1880, in season 
to be a lively participant in the "Big Fire", which occurred there 
in 1871. Her work as teacher in that city was continuous for 
twenty-seven years, when she resigned, but still continues to 
reside there. 



THE BULLOCK FAMILY 

The family that was the most distinguished in Royalston 
history from the Revolution for nearly a century was the Bullock 
family. The first of the name to come to this country was 
Richard Bullock who settled in Rehoboth, Mass., in 1643. He 
was a man of prominence in the town and among other positions 
he held was that of town clerk in 1659. He lived there during 



178 HISTORY OF ROVALSTON 

the balance of his life and died in 1667. He left ten children. 
The oldest was a son, Samuel, born Aug. 19, 1648. He married 
Mary Thurber of Swanzey Nov. 12, 1673, and died in Rehoboth 
March 10, 1718, leaving nine children. The oldest, Ebenezer, 
was born Feb. 22, 1676. He married Sarah Moulton March 
29, 1699, and lived in Rehoboth until his death. He left four 
children, among them Hugh, who was born in Rehoboth April 
1; 1706, and died Feb. 3, 1771, leaving seven children. 

Hugh Bullock, oi the fifth generation, was born August 12. 
1751 at Rehoboth, Mass., and went to Royalston during the 
Revolution. His brother Moulton Bullock had removed to 
Royalston before the Revolution and settled in the northwest 
part of the town on a farm which has been known as the Jason 
Fisher place. Hugh Bullock's farm was just north of his brother's. 
Christopher, Ebenezer, Nathan and David Bullock also settled 
in Royalston al)out 1770 and bought three lots containing 345 1-2 
acres, at 8 shillings per acre. They were cousins of Deacon 
Moulton and Hugh Bullock. They were all stalwart men, 
David being the tallest man in town. Their stay in town was 
short; for when they had their places well cleared, and were 
in the full vigor of manhood, they went westward, following 
the tide of settlers from the Atlantic states inland after the 
Revolution. Hugh Bullock married Rebecca Davis. He was 
one of the company that started for Saratoga to repel the inva- 
sion of Burgoyne. He was in Capt. Peter Woodbury's company, 
Col. Job Cushing's regiment, which reinforced Gen. Stark at 
Bennington, Vt. After his sons grew up he left the farm and 
built a house on the Common west of his son Barnet's house. 
The children of Hugh and Rebekah Bullock were: Rufus Bullock, 
born Sept. 23, 1779; Moulton Bullock, born Nov. 4, 1783; Calvin 
Bullock, born July 3, 1785; Barnet Bullock, born June 9, 1798 
and Candace Bullock born June 29, 1803. 

Rufus Bullock, the oldest son of Hugh and Rebecca Bullock, 
was born Sept. 23, 1779. He was the most distinguished man 
who spent his life in the town of Royalston. With small means 
he early laid the foundations of a good education, and became 
an acceptal)le school teacher, before reaching his majority. For 
some years he made teaching his business in winter and worked 
at farming during the other seasons. Two or three of his schools 
in Truro, on the Cape, extended through most of the year. From 
school teaching he turned his attention to trade, working in a 



THE BULLOCK FAMILY l^g 

store as clerk, till he was induced to open a store on the Common 
■on his own account. This proved so successful that he concluded 
to settle do^vn in life as a country merchant. As his means 
increased he expanded his business, never going beyond, but 
always using fully all his resources. He engaged in manufacturing 
about 1825, when the Royalston Cotton and Wool Manu- 
facturing Compan^y at South Royalston came into the hands 
of Silas Coffin and Rufus Bullock. Their mill wa,s burned in 
1833, and Mr. Bullock became the sole proprietor of the privilege 
and the property appertaining to it. The next year he built 
what was known as the Stone mill; put in four sets of woolen 
machinery and continued to run them till his death. He built 
up a large fortune and became widely known as a man of estab- 
lished and growing wealth, of eminent business talents and of 
high moral worth. In addition to his extensive business he 
kept up his interest in farming. 

He was also prominent in public affairs; represented Royal- 
ston in the Legislature five years, and in 1831 and 1832 occupied 
a seat in the State Senate. In 1820 and 1853 he was a delegate to 
the State Constitutional Conventions and was once a Presiden- 
tial elector. He was town clerk in 1812 and 1813, town treasurer 
from 1835 to 1837 inclusive, selectman for three years and 
assessor six years between 1807 and 1826. In all these public 
trusts he put in practice the same maxims and principles, as 
those by which he conducted his own private business. One 
who had known him describes him as "A patriot of the early 
type, — a gentleman of the olden school — a friend to be 
trusted, and a man whose principles bore the test of intimate ac- 
quaintance and inspection, and whose influence, unobtrusive but 
potent, has been eminently useful." 

While living he was a cheerful and liberal supporter of the 
institutions of learning and religion, and dying he left the material 
means for the support of the schools and churches of his native 
town. He died Jan. 10, 1858. 

By his will the First Congregational Society in Royalston 
Centre received the sum of Five Thousand dollars; the Baptist 
Religious Society in the west part of the town Twenty-five 
Hundred dollars, and the Second Congregational society at 
South Royalston Twenty-five hundred dollars; and another 
clause of the will reads as follows: ''Sixteenth, I give and bequeath 
to the town of Rovalston the sum of Five Thousand dollars to 



ISO HISTORY OF KOYALSTON 

be held and applied as a fund, the income of which shall be appro- 
priated and paid over for the benefit and use of Common schools 
in said town, the said income to be divided among the several 
School Districts in like manner as the school money raised by 
the town shall be divided; and it is my will that a Committee, 
to be chosen by the town for such purpose, shall act in concur- 
rence with my Executors in investing said sum, and that every 
year a committee shall be chosen by the town at a leg illy called 
town meeting who shall have the charge and oversight of such 
investment, and shall report annually to the town the condition 
and income of the same, provided, however, that when the said 
town of Royalston shall neglect to keep, or cause to be kept, in 
a good state of repair, the new cemetery now being established on 
the ground recently purchased of C. H. Maxham, that is to say 
shall neglect to maintain in good order and condition the said 
ground, fence, gate, and receiving tomb therein, then this sum 
of Five Thousand Dollars shall revert to and be paid over to 
my children and their heirs by right of representation." 

Mr. Bullock was also for some years a trustee of Amherst 
college, and was the donor of a fine telescope for the College 
observatory. He married Miss Sarah Davis of Rindge, N. H., 
May 4, 1808. Their children: Louise Maria, born Oct. 14, 1809; 
Emily Bullock, born Sept. 10, 1811; Rebecca Bullock, born 
April 29, 1814; Charles Augustus Bullock, born March 31, 1818; 
Alexander Hamilton Bullock, born March 2, 1816; Rufus Henry 
Bullock, born Jan. 9, 1821. 

Alexander Hamilton Bullock, oldest son of Rufus and Sarah 
(Davis) Bullock and Royalston's most distinguished son, was 
born in Royalston, March 2, 1816. He entered Amherst College 
in 1832 and on his graduation in 1836, delivered the salutatory 
oration at commencement. After graduating he taught school 
for three years in Princeton, New Jersey, but partly by the 
urgency of his father and partly from his own inclination, he 
decided to stud}^ law, and entered the Harvard Law school, 
then under the presidency of Judge Story. 

After leaving the Law School he spent a year in the law ofRce 
of the well-known lawyer, Emory Washburn, of Worcester. 
He was admitted to the bar in 1841, and soon began practice 
in Worcester; the rough contents of the court-house did not 
prove congen al to him, and although he had a considerable 
clientage for a young man, he soon established a large business as 




/Z^^^r^.//. (fli-2.^L.£j^^'t>-~.^.^ 



KeiTopolitanTuJjlislniig SEngTainiig Co.WewTorii 



THE BULLOCK FAMILY 181 

agent of important insurance companies and withdrew himself 
altogether from the practice of law. From early manhood he took 
a decided interest in politics, but did not allow it to absorb an 
undue portion of his time till the period arrived when he could 
safely make it a leading object. In constitutional h.w he was 
well verse i. In party affiliation he was of the old Whig school. 

He held many important offices in State and City. He was 
a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for 
eight years, fir^t in 1845, and last in 1865, an:l was also in 1849 
a State Senator. In 1832, 1863, 1834 and 1865 he was Speaker 
of the House. He was judge of the Worcester County Court of 
Insolvency for two years, 1853-1858, having under a previous 
jurisdiction, served as commissioner of insolvency from 1853, 
He was mayor of Worcester in 1859. But the most prominent 
event in his public life was his election as Governor of Massa- 
chusetts, which office he held three years, 1888, 1887 and 1868. 
At the first election he received nearly fifty thousand votes 
more than his opponent. He might undoubtedly have held 
prominent positions in national affairs but his ambition did not 
seem to run in that direction. In 1879 he was offered the then 
vacant English mission by President Hayes, which he declined 
to accept. After his retirement from the Governorship he held 
no other public office, and declined to entertain any of the sug- 
gestions made to him of further political service, which would 
involve to some extent, the abandonment of those studies and 
employments which were so agreeable to him. In financial, 
humane, and all reformatory measures he was actively interested. 

He was president of the State Mutual Life Insurance Com- 
pany, and of the Worcester County Institution for Savings, a 
director in the Worcester National Bank, chairman of the 
Finance committee of the Trustees of Amherst College, and a 
life member of the New England Historic-Geneological Society. 
He was also a writer of more than ordinary ability, and while 
editor o^ the Aeqi ; newspaper, which position he held for several 
years, gained a high reputation as a journalist. Governor 
Bullock was an orator of great power and eloquence and his 
addresses which have been published contain many models 
of pure style and elegant scholarship. Speaking of him in this 
connection, Senator Hoar says: "Above all, he posessed beyond 
any of his living contemporaries, that rare gift of eloquence 



182 



HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 



which ahvays has been and always will be a passport to the favot 
of the people where speech is free." 

In 18G9 he visited Europe with his family, and on his return 
the following year the civic authorities and citizens of Worcester 
gave testimony of their appreciation of his character and his 
services by a public reception. One of his biographers has said 
of him, ''he was a lover of scholarship, a citizen of many resources 
and large usefulness, whose life diffused all around it an influence 
and charm, which elevated the standard of the domestic and 
moral life of the community." He died in January, 1882. 

Governor Bullock married Elvira, daughter of Col. A. G. 
Hazard of Enfield, Conn., foundet of the Hazard Gunpowder 
Manufacturing Co. Their children were: Augustus George; 

'Isabel, who married Nelson S. Bartlett of Boston; and Fanny, 
who married Dr. WilUam H. Workman of Worcester 

Augustus George Bullock, only son of Alexander and Elvira 
(Hazard) Bullock, was born in Enfield, Conn., June 2d, 1847. 
His early education was received in private schools, and he 
graduated from Harvard college in 1868. After traveling a 
year in Europe he commenced the study of law and was admitted 
to the bar in Worcester, where he went into practice occupying 

•offices with Senator Hoar. In January, 1883, he was elected 
president and treasurer of the state Mutual Life Insurance com- 
pany, which position he has held to the present time. He is 
also a director in a number of the financial and business insti- 
tutions of Worcester and sustains a high reputation for financial 
skill and ability. He has also been a trustee of the State Lunatic 
Hospital and of the Free Public Library of Worcester, and is a 
member of the American Antiquarian society. 

He was united in marriage Oct. 4, 1871, with Mary Chandler, 
daughter of Dr. George and Josephine Rose Chandler, and they 
have had four sons, one of whom died in infancy. 

Louisa Maria Bullock, oldest daughter of Rufus and Sarah 
(Davis) Bullock, married Hiram M. Albee Jan. 25, 1838. Mr. 
Albee was a merchant and postmaster at South Royalston. 
They had four children. Mrs. Albee died Dec. 18, 1848. 

Emily Bullock, married William D. Ripley, a native of 
Norwich, Conn., and their home for many years was at the old 
• Bullock mansion on Royalston Common. Mr. Ripley died in 
1880 and Mrs. Ripley died in Philadelphia. 




BARNET BULLOCK 



THE BULLOCK FAMILY 183 

Rebecca Bullock, youngest daughter of Rufus and Sarah 
(Davis) Bullock, married Nelson Wheeler a graduate of Yale 
college and a teacher of prominence. They lived in Worcester, 
Mass. 

Rufus Henry Bullock, youngest son of Rufus and Sarah 
(Davis) Bullock prepared for College at Northfieki and was two 
years in Amherst College, 1838 and 1839. He then engaged in 
trade at Royalston, where he died in June, 1855. 

Barnst Bullock was of the fifth generation from Richard 
Bullock, the immigrant ancestor. He was born in the west part 
of Royalston June 9, 1798, and during his active life he followed 
the business of a merchant in that town. He held for a long 
time the commission of Justice of the Peace, doing most of the 
public business in that line in the town for many years, besides 
filling various responsible town offices. He was town clerk from 
1837 to 1847; selectman 1840, 1844 and 1845, and representative 
to the General Court in 1844. One of the oldest and most prom- 
inent citizens of Royalston he died Sept. 1, 1884, being the last 
survivor of the four sons of Hugh Bullock, who came from 
Rehoboth and settled in Royalston during the Revolution. He 
married Nov. 27, 1828, Lucy Newton, daughter of Nathan 
Brigham Newton. Their children were: Calvin, born Sept. 
21, 1829, died March 5, 1870; Brigham Newton, born April 6, 
1831, died Feb. 20, 1906; Barnet Ellis, born March 22, 1833, 
died Feb. 12, 1913; Lucy Lee, born May 25,1835, died Sept. 
18, 1882; Elizabeth Candace, born Oct. 16, 1838, died March 
4, 1843; Charles Stuart, born Jan. 20, 1841; James Frederick, 
born July 21, 1842, died May 28, 1870; Mary Elizabeth, born 
Dec. 18, 1847, died March 21, 1869. 

Calvin Bullock, oldest son of Barnet and Lucy (Newton) 
Bullock, was born Sept. 20, 1830. His education was obtained 
at Worcester Academy, Worcester, Mass., after which he was for 
a short time engaged in business with his father. He married 
Mary E. Miller of Royalston, daughter of George F. Miller, June 
1, 1859. About the time of his marriage he moved to Toledo, 
Ohio, where he was with the Wabash R. R. Co., and was assis- 
tant treasurer at the time of his death which occurred March 5, 
1870. His widow returned to Royalston where she made her 
home. 

They had one son Calvin Bullock. He attended school in 
Arlington, Mass., in 1883; attended Worcester Academy from 



184 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

1884 to 1888, and afterwards graduated from Williams college 
in the class of 1892. The next year he went to Denver, Col., 
where he has been ever since engaged in the bond business. 
He married Alice K. Mallory of Norwalk, Conn., Dec. 28, 1892, 
and they have two children. 

Brigham Newton Bullock, second son of Barnet and Lucy 
(Newton) Bullock, was born in Royalston April 6, 1831. He 
spent his early life in his native town, where he attended the 
common schools. In February, 1849, at the age of sixteen he 
started out in life by entering the employ of Joseph Estabrook, 
who kept a country store and the postoffice. He remained with 
Mr. Estabrook until the fall of 1851 when he attended the high 
school kept by Cundell Bros. On October 20, of the same year, 
he left Royalston and the High School to enter the passenger 
department of the office of the Vermont & Massachusetts Rail- 
road in Fitchburg where he remained until January, 1874. He 
then went to Boston where he was cashier of the Boston, Hart- 
ford & Erie Railroad from March, 1874, until August, 1874. 
From there he went to the Home Savings Bank, Boston, Aug. 6, 
1874, and remained until Feb. 27, 1882, when he returned to 
Fitchburg and entered the Fitchburg National Bank as cashier, 
holding that office until he was made president in 1888, which 
position he held the remainder of his life. In July, 1894, he was 
elected treasurer of the Fitchburg Savings Bank and remained 
treasurer until the law separating national and savings banks 
went into operation in 1904, when he was chosen chairman of 
the Board of Investment which position he held as long as he 
lived. He was also a director in the Fitchburg Railroad Co., 
the Fitchburg Mutual Fire Insurance Co., Grant Yarn Co., and 
the Simonds Manufacturing Co., of Fitchburg. He was a mem- 
ber of the First Unitarian Parish of Fitchburg. A successful 
financier and a man of sterling character, he was one of the best 
products of the New England country town. He always re- 
tained his affection for his native town of Royalston, and spent 
a portion of each summer there. He married Nov. 13, 1888, 
Flora Belle Ripley of Fitchburg. He died in Boston, Feb. 20, 
1906. Their only child is Richard Bullock, born May 3. 1892. 

Barnet Ellis Bullcck, was born in Royalston March 22, 1833, 
and died at Samaria, Mich, Feb. 12, 1913. Mr. Bullock spent 
near-ly all the earlier part of his life railroading, then becoming a 
contractor for railroad supplies, and at the time of his death was 








CALVIN BULLOCK 



BRIGHAM NEWTON BULLOCK 




BARNET ELLIS BULLOCK 





CHARLES STUART BULLOCK JAMES FREDERICK BULLOCK 



THE BULLOCK FAMILY JgS 

the owner of several large farms in Michigan, although be kept 
his winter home in Toledo, Ohio. He married Mary R. Osborne, 
who died in 1914. 

Charles S. Bullock, son of Barnet and Lucy (Newton) Bul- 
lock was born in Royalston Jan. 20, 1841. When ayoungmanhe 
went to work for the old Vermont and Massachusetts R. R. Co., 
in their general freight office. He went to Kill Buck, N. Y., 
in 1877, and engaged in the business of a general store and 
lumber business for a time. Has not been engaged in business 
since 1900. He married Harriet Bullard, daughter of Rev. 
E. W. Bullard. They have two sons, Stuart D. Bullock, born 
Sept. 23, 1875, in Arlington, Mass., now living at Highland 
Park, Detroit, Mich., and Hugh Bullock, born June 22, 1880, 
LOW living in Medford, Mass. 

James Frederick Bullock, youngest son of Barnet and Lucy 
(Newton) Bullock, was born July 21, 1842, and died May 28, 
1870. At the time of his death he held a responsible position 
in a bank in Toledo, Ohio, a profession for which he seemed 
eminently fitted, and in which he was making rapid strides at 
the time of his death. 



THE FRYE FAMILY 

Captain John Frye, one of the earliest settlers in the town 
of Royalston, was a descendant in the fourth generation of 
John Frye, who emigrated from Basing Hants, England, in May, 
1638. He sailed from Southampton in the good ship "Bevis," 
and about seven years after his arrival settled in Andover, Mass. 
This John Frye was also an ancestor of Senator Frye of Maine, 
who has served as President of the Senate of the United States. 
It was in the town of Andover that Captain John Frye was 
born April 7, 1719. While a young man, he resided for a time 
in Sutton, where he was married on Nov. 2, 1748, to Elizabeth 
Woodbury, a lady of worth. In this town he operated a grist 
mill, and conducted a grain business. He accumulated some 
means and became well-known in that section, so that when, 
some time previous to 1765, he decided to settle in Royalston, quite 
a number of families from Sutton were induced to do the same. 
He seems to have been connected with Col. Royal in the enterprise 
of opening up this new territory, and a relative of his by the 



J86 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

same name was previouslj^ engaged by the Colonel to survey 
the township now known as Durham, Maine. This town was 
at first called Royalston; that section then belonged to Massa- 
chusetts, and at a meeting of the citizens later, it was decided 
to change the name, as they said there was a town in Worcester 
county called Royalston. From that day to this, the people 
of Royalston have had the exclusive use of the name in the 
United States. 

In his selection of a location for a home he certainly did 
well, for that beautiful situation, marked by more modern 
buildings, and occupied by his great-grandson, still speaks for 
itself to-day. 

Governor Bullock in his centennial address describes Captain 
John as follows: "John Frye, a Uneal descendant of one who 
came from England, moved from Sutton to Royalston, and 
resided on yonder eminence. He was called here "the Esquire," 
but he brought with him a distinction of arms, I have had 
placed at my use by one of his kinsmen the original commission 
under the king, which he received as first lieutenant from Gov- 
ernor Shirley, in 1745, and under which he fought before Louis- 
burg, and entered the fort to the music of the same drum which 
thirty years later beat still better sounds at Bunker Hill. Ten 
years afterwards, he bore royal commission as Captain for ser- 
vice at Crown Point. He was passed the time for military activ- 
ity when the Revolution opened, and was obliged to suppress 
his soldierly instincts in the home life of a good deacon and model 
citizen. He lived here nearly fifty years and died at nmety-six. 
Captain John Frye was known as the "Hero of Crown Point," 
but his service as a soldier was only a small part of his life work, 
as by far the larger part of his life was spent in peaceful pur- 
suits. He was a deacon in the local church, and was the first 
man chosen to look after the prudential affairs of the town, 
serving in this capacity seven years. He was the first town clerk, 
being elected in 1765, and serving till 1781; he was a delegate 
at the ratification of the constitution of the United States in 
1788; he represented the town in the legislature of 1780, 1783, 
1784, 1785 and 1787. Captain John Frye died March 18, 1814, 
at his home in Royalston, and was buried in the old burying 
ground. His descendants have been good citizens, and have 
filled important positions in the service of the state and cities 
in which they have resided. They have been fortunate also in 




CAPT. JOHN FRVR 
'The Hero of Crown Point' 



THE TRYE EAMILY 2S7 

their connections with other families, and have made alHances 
with those holding important positions themselves or those 
who were from noted families. One was the wife of Gov. John 
McLane of New Hampshire, and one married a direct descendant 
of Gov. Bradstreet of Massachusetts, and the poetess, Ann« 
Dudley Bradstreet, daughter of Gov. Dudley, and known in 
New England as the "tenth muse." It is interesting that two 
of the descendants of these men, Simon Bradstreet and John 
Frye, who were friends at Andover, two hundred and fifty years 
later should meet, become acquainted, and decide to become 
life partners. One has recently graduated from a Boston school 
with high honors; one from the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology; and another from Boston University. One was a 
teacher in the public schools of Cambridge for thirty-seven years, 
and one now a resident of Granville, Mass., has given splendid 
service to the cause of education. A young man, bearing the 
same family name, has recently served as deacon in the same 
church of which John Frye was the first deacon. 

His military qualities have also passed down. His great- 
grandson, George E. Frye, lost his life in the battle of Chancel- 
lorsville; and Benjamin A. Frye also served in the Civil war 
three years, and still lives on the old homestead. And here 
is one who deserves mention no less, who gave up his own plans 
for which he had splendid abilities and remained at the old home 
to care for his sweet spirited mother, who by war, sickness and 
death was left in need of just this service. We refer to William 
W. Frye. In this care he was aided by his sisters. 

One branch of the family, years ago, moved to New York 
state, where they have taken an important part in the develop- 
ment of the section in which they reside. 

Descendants of Capt. John and Elizabeth (Woodbury) 
Frye. Children : 

1. John, born Sept. 27, 1749, died Jan., 1832. 

2. Elizabeth, born July 12, 1751. 

3. Ebenezer, born July 4, 1754, died May 8, 1832. 

4. Mary, born Feb. 18, 1757. 

5. Hannah, born Feb. 10, 1760. 

6. Mehitable, born Aug. 12, 1762. 

7. Ruth, born Aug. 8, 1765. 

8. David, born July 28, 1768. 

9. Deborah, born April 7, 1772. 



188 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

The six first were born in Sutton and the last three in Royal- 
ston. 

(3) Ehenezer Frye, second sou of Capt. John and Elizabeth 
(Woodbury) Frye, was born in Sutton July 4^ 1754; he married 
Mary ^Yaite June 17^ 1783, who was born March 18, 1761, and 
died^Aug. 26, 1798. 

He came to Royalston at the age of ten years, and lived 
the remainder of his life on the old home place. Both he and 
his wife were devoted Christian people. He was Selectman in 
Royalston 1793 to 1799, 1805, 1806, 1808, and was Town 
Treasurer 1809 to 1824. He died May 8, 1832. The children of 
Ebenezer and Mary (Waite) Frye were: 

1. Betsey, born April 28, 1784, died Jan. 6, 1819. 

2. Asa, born Oct. 26, 1786. 

3. Daniel, bom Aug. 23, 1789, died suddenly Aug. 30, 1791. 

4. Polly, born July 21, 1791, died Jan. 15, 1836. 

She acted as housekeeper at the old home for a number of 
years until the time of her death; made a "sampler" containing 
a valuable family record and an illustration of the old homestead 
as it appeared at that time, and where it is still preserved (1913). 

5. Benjamin, born Aug. 6, 1793, died Sept. 29, 1861. 

6. John, born May 16, 1796, died Feb. 18, 1866. 

7. Ebenezer, born June 30, 1798, died June 25, 1818. 

(1) Betsey Frye, oldest daughter of Ebenezer and Mary 
(Waite) Frye was born April 28, 1784. She married William 
Blood of Fitzwilliam, N. H., Sept. 2, 1807. They had six children 
none of whom were born in Royalston. 

Mary Blood, oldest daughter of William and Betsey (Frye) 
Blood was born April 26, 1808. She married Horace Pierce 
Oct. 23, 1828. They had three children. (See Pierce family.) 

(2) Asa Frye, oldest son of Ebenezer and Mary (Waite) 
Frye was born Oct. 26, 1786. He married Rebecca Wilman in 
October, 1820. He moved with his family to New York state. 
They had five children. 

(5) Benjamin Frye, third son of Ebenezer and Mary (Waite) 
Frye, was born in Royalston Aug. 6, 1793. He married Oct. 
24, 1836, Miranda Barton of Croyden, N. H. She was born 
April 26, 1815. She was a teacher and a woman of splendid 
character and ability and came from a prominent New Hamp- 
shire famih^ An uncle was editor of the "New Hampshire 
Statesman;" one brother was a wealthy merchant; another 





MRS. BENJ. (MIRANDA BARTON) FRYE 



BENJAMIN FRYE 




FRANK BARTON FRYE FAMILY 



THE FRYE FAMILY 189 

a well-known official in Sullivan County. She died March 25, 
1890. 

Benjamin Frye was a prominent citizen and official of Royal- 
ston. He was Town Treasurer from 1838 to 1854 with the 
exception of one year, Selectman four years, Representative 
in the Legislature, 1838, 1840, 1854. He was a farmer, born on 
the old home place, late in the eighteenth century. His youngest 
son was born in the nineteenth century, and his youngest grand- 
daughter in the twentieth century (March 28, 1901). He died 
in Royalston Sept. 29, 1861. The children of Benjamin and 
Miranda (Barton) Frye were: 

1. George Ehenezer, born Aug. 18, 1837. Married Aurilla 
Howard of Croyden, N. H. Served in the Fifth New Hampshire 
Regiment in the Civil War. Was killed in action at Chancellors- 
ville, Va.,May2, 1863. 

2. Rosette Miranda, born Dec. 14, 1839, at the old homestead. 
Educated in the pul)lic schools and Meriden Academy. Teacher 
in public schools and member of the board of education in 
Fitzwilliam, N. H. Married Nov. 1, 1865, to Deacon Leonard 
Byam. She died Dec. 3, 1892. 

3. Benjamin Alexander, born May 10, 1841. 

4. Mary Jane, born June 29, 1843, died Aug. 28, 1862. Was 
a teacher in the public schools. 

5. Martha Anne Elizabeth, born March 20, 1846, died Dec. 
20, 1892. 

6. William Watson, born Nov. 30, 1848, was born, lived and 
died on the old home place; called at the age of twelve by the 
death of his father and the absence of his older brothers in the 
war, to care for the home. He died Feb. 2, 1892. 

Benjamin Alexander Frye, second son of Benjamin and 
Miranda (Barton) Frye was born in Royalston May 10, 1841. 
Enlisted in the 36th Mass. Regiment in the Civil war, Aug. 
27, 1862. Mustered out June 8, 1865. Married in Boston 
May 15, 1837, to Alice Morrison Giggie. She was born July 1, 
1840. He occupies the old home place to which he has added 
many modern improvements. They had five children: Harriet 
Miranda, George A., Myra Elizabeth, William Alexander, 
Mary Ellen. 

1. Harriet Miranda Frye, oldest child of Benjamin Alexander 
and Alice (Giggie) Frye was born in Royalston March 28, 1868, 
married William H. Shepard Sept. 1, 1890. They have three 



igQ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

children: Walter Earl, born June 11, 1891; Olive Mildred, born 
Dec. 19, 1896; Freda Elizabeth, born Aug. 22, 1898. 

2. George A. Frye, born Jan. 18, 1870, died Feb. 9, 1870. 

3. Myra EUzabeth Frye, born Jan. 20, 1871, married Clarence 
Hamilton of Athol. 

4. William Alexarider Frye, youngest son of Benjamin Alex- 
ander and Alice (Giggie) Frye, was born Dec. 21, 1872, married 
July 10, 1899, to Alice Russell Fairbanks, daughter of Rev. and 
Mrs. Francis J. Fairbanks of Royalston. Has served as chair- 
man of the School Committee of Royalston and in other town 
offices, and as deacon of the First Congregational Church. 
Children: Richard Fairbanks, born Sept. 7, 1900 and William 
Russell, born April 5, 1906. 

5. Mary Ellen Frye, born Dec. 8, 1875, died Feb. 13, 1896. 
Martha Anne Elizabeth Frye, youngest daughter of Benjamin 

and Miranda (Barton) Frye, was born in Royalston March 
26, 1846, married Jan. 10, 1878, to James Lewis Brigham of 
Templeton, school teacher, died Dec. 20, 1892. Children: 
George L. and Emma W. 

1. George L. Brigham, son of James Lewis and Martha Anne 
(Frye) Brigham was born Jan. 6, 1879, married June 19, 1908, 
to Katherine Condy. He graduated from the Sherwin School, 
Boston, class of 1896, and is an electrician. They have one 
daughter, Jeanne Winnefred, born March 22, 1909. 

2. Emma W. Brigham, daughter of George L. and Martha 
Anne (Frye) Brigham, was born Sept. 14, 1881. She graduated 
as valedictorian from the Hyde School, Boston, class of 1896, 
and is an expert stenographer. 

(7) Frank Barton Frye, youngest child of Benjamin and 
Miranda (Barton) Frye, was born in Royalston, April 13, 1856. 
He married Nov. 17, 1886, Elsie Willetta Merrill, daughter of 
Rev. and Mrs. William Merrill of Beverly. She was born June 
11, 1861, at Northbridge, Mass. She was a teacher. 

He has been enT;aged in mercantile business and manufac- 
turing. Served in FitzwilUam, N. H., as collector 1884, and as 
Selectman and assessor in 1885 and 1886. Resides in Waltham, 
Mass., and has a summer home on FitzwilUam road, Royalston. 
Children: 

1. i?oya^ Mern7^, born May 27, 1890. Graduated from Wal- 
tham High School as valedictorian, class of 1908; received degree 
of A. B. with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Boston University, 



THE FRYE FAMILY 191 

1911; A. M., Boston University, 1912; member of Harvard 
Graduate School in Chemistry, 1912; 1913 as Jacob Sleeper 
Fellow of Boston University. At present in charge of the 
department of Physics, Boston University, 

2. Merlon Benjamin, born March 4, 1893. Graduated 
from Waltham High School, class of 1913. At present organist 
and choirmaster of St. John's church, Newport, R. I. 

3. William Bixhy, born Nov. 15, 1895. Senior in Waltham 
High school and editor-in-chief of the "Mirror." 

4. Elsie Frances, born March 28, 1901. Student in Grammar 
school. 

John Frye, sixth child of Ebenezer and Mary (Waite) Frye, 
and grandson of Capt. John Frye, was born May 16, 1796. He 
was married Jan. 30, 1823, to Lucinda Kendall. She was born 
April 25, 1798, in Phillipston, Mass., and died Jan. 10, 1871, in 
Cambridge, Mass. He lived nearly all his life on apart of the old 
homestead, in a house built by himself. He died Feb. 18, 1866, 
in Somerville, Mass. Their children all born in Royalston: 

1. Ardelia Betsey, born Nov. 16, 1823, died Jan. 7, 1862. 

2. EmeHne Clarissa, born May 8, 1826, died Sept. 20, 1908, 
unmarried. Died in Cambridge, burial in Royalston. 

3. John Kendall Frye, born Sept. 29, 1831, died Oct. 15, 1908. 
He was a member of the furniture house of Barnum, Frye & 
Co., of Boston. Buried in Royalston. 

Ardelia Betsey Frye, married Ezra Adams Cheney of Barre, 
Mass., May 7, 1846. Their children: Ellen Ardelia, born Sept. 17, 
1848, in Royalston. Graduated from Cambridge High School, 
class of 1869. Teacher in public schools of Cambridge for thirty- 
seven years. Retired June, 1908. Edward Francis, born Oct. 
28, 1850, in Royalston, died March 11, 1855; Henrietta Frye, born 
Feb. 14, 1852, in Royalston, married Oct. 19, 1876, to George 
C. Allen of Barre, Mass., died Feb. 6, 1881; Emma EHzabeth, 
born Feb. 17, 1856, in Fitchburg, Mass. 

Emma Elizabeth Cheney, daughter of Ardelia Betsey (Frye) 
Cheney, born Feb. 17, 1856, graduated from Cambridge High 
School, class of 1875, married Feb. 17, 1885, to Howard A. 
Allison of Boston. 



ig2 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

THE BLISS FAMILY 

The Bliss family of Royalston, which was exceeded in number 
by only one of the old Royalston families during the first century 
of the town, traces its origin back to England somewhere be- 
tween the years 1150 and 1250, when the name of BUss was 
first given to some man who had as his predominent characteristic 
a blissful state of mind, according to Charles Arthur Hoppin, 
the author of a recent work called "The BHss Book." Mr. 
Hoppin demolishes some of the romantic fallacies of an earlier 
work on the Bliss Genealogy, prominent among which was the 
belief that the family was of Norman descent, having come to 
England with WiUiam the Conqueror. On the contrary Mr. 
Hoppin contends that the Blisses were unquestionably of pure 
Saxon origin possibly with some Danish admixture, and points 
out that the part of England in which they dwelt was one that 
held out longest against the Normans. 

The Bliss coat-of-arms dates back to the time of Elizabeth, 
and capped by a sheaf of grain, it bears the honest motto, "Quod 
severis metes" — "You reap what you sow." 

The last English ancestor of the Bliss family of Royalston 
was one Thomas Bliss. He resided in Belston, England, and was 
a man of property. He was a Puritan and his wealth and promi- 
nence perhaps invited the persecution he suffered and through 
which he lost both his wealth and health. He was imprisoned 
for his religious and political views. Two of his children, Thomas 
and George, emigrated to America to escape persecution. 

Thomas Bliss of Rehoboth, Mass., was a grandson of Thomas 
of Belston, England, and emigrated from Northamptonshire 
about the year 1635, and was one who in 1643 with others made 
the settlement of Rehoboth. The first of the Bliss family to 
come to Royalston was Nathan Bliss of the ninth generation 
from Thomas Bliss of Belston. 

(IX) Nathan Bliss, son of Nathan (8) and Joanna Bliss 
was born at Rehoboth Dec. 19, 1761. He removed to Royalston 
between 1770 and 1775, and married Ruth Briggs of Dighton, 
who was born at Dighton Dec. 22, 1765, and died at Royalston 
Nov. 28, 1862. He was a farmer and died at Royalston Jan. 
31, 1852. Their children were Abel Ballou, born Aug. 23, 1785, 
at Dighton; Polly, born Sept. 10, 1788; Anna, born June 14^ 



THE BLISS FAMILY 193 

1791; Nathan, born April 25, 1797; Ruth, l)orn Oct. 6, 1802 and 
Sally, born Nov. 15, 1806. 

(X) Ahsl Bliss, oldest child of Nathan and Ruth (Briggs) 
Bliss was born in Dighton Aug. 23, 1785, and when six weeks 
old was carried on horse back in his mother's arms from Dighton 
to their new home in Royalston. He was a shoemaker by trade 
and married Nicena Ballou of Richmond, N. H., Oct. 12, 1806. 
She was born March 6, 1788, and died April 7, 1847. Their 
children were: Nathan, born Sept. 15, 1808, married Emily Lovett 
in 1832; Abel Ballou, born Feb. 22, 1811. Went to Worcester 
and married Rebecca S. Flint of Royalston April 6, 1835. He 
died Aug. 4, 1852; Harrison, born Oct. 9, 1812; Russell, born 
Dec. 5, 1815, married Mary May March 8, 1835, and died 
June 15, 1852; James, born July 16, 1818, married Julia Drury, 
daughter of Ephraim and Betsey Drury, she was born Oct. 24, 
1820 and died Oct. 18, 1844; he died Jan. 16, 1842. They left 
no issue. He kept a restaurant at Troy, N. Y. ; Nicena J., born 
Dec. 12, 1823, and died Jan. 7, 1845, unmarried; Olive Lucena, 
born July 3, 1825, married May 9, 1847, Charles C. Balch, 
carpenter and resided in Shirley, Mass. 

(XI) Nathan Bliss, son of Abel and Nicena (Ballou) Bliss, 
born Sept. 15, 1808, married Emily, daughter of James and 
Freelove Lovett of Shutesbury in 1832. They had seven children 
only one of whom was born in Royalston. They resided for a 
time in Winhall, Vt., and removed to the old Bliss homestead 
in Royalston about 1856. 

Frederick J. Bliss, son of Nathan and Emily (Lovett) Bliss 
was born at Winhall, Vt., June 21, 1844. When a young man 
he was employed for several years in the Estey Organ factory 
at Brattleboro, Vt., and in 1870 went to Michigan where he 
engaged in business under the firm name of Holt & Bliss, general 
buyers of farm products and shippers at wholesale, their business 
being mostly in wheat and wool. In 1875, his father being in 
years and left alone on the old farm, he returned to the old home 
in Royalston, which has since been his home. He married 
Dec. 19, 1870, Maria L. Cooke of Worcester. Their children 
were Florence J. and Roland N., born in Corrunna, Mich., 
the former in 1872, and the latter in 1873, and Amy May and 
Edith both of whom were born in Royalston, the former in 1877, 
and the latter in 1888. Roland Bliss is settled in Stillwater, 
Mich., where he has a position with the Donnelly Shoe Co. 



2g4 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

of that place, is married and has three children. Amy May 
married C. A. Eddy and lives in Milford, Conn. 

(XII) Edward M. Bliss, youngest son of Nathan and Emily 
(Lovett) Bliss, was born at Winhall, Vt., Nov. 25, 1846. He 
worked on the farm during the summer months and attended 
common and high school at Winhall, Vt., and Royalston, Mass., 
during the winter months completing his studies at Powers 
Institute in Bernardston. He was ten years old when his parents 
removed to the old Bhss homestead in Royalston where his 
father and grandfather were born. In early manhood he taught 
school and learned the trade of a cabinet maker, which he fol- 
lowed for several years. He was employed at the Estey Organ 
works in Brattleboro, Vt., for three years. In 1876 he engaged 
in canvassing for books with signal success, later turned his 
attention to life insurance business and Jan. 14, 1882, he settled 
in Worcester, and in 1883 entered into partnership with John 
C. Bickford in the manufacture of lambswool soles and hand 
crocheted slippers. Business was successful from the start. Mr. 
Bliss purchased the interest of his partner Feb. 1, 1894, and 
continued the business alone under his own name until bis death. 
Some thirty hands- were employed on the machines in the shop 
and about one hundred and fifty at their homes. Mr. Bliss 
made a specialty of this hand work on his goods for many years, 
and was the first to introduce the hand crocheted worsted slippers 
on the market in this country. He died Nov. 24, 1903, after an 
illness of only a few days. He attained a position of honor and 
usefulness. He attended the Central Congregational Church, 
was a member of the Worcester Congregational Club, the Econo- 
mic Club and the Worcester Board of Trade. He married at 
Royalston Jan. 1, 1870, Sarah A. Buffum, daughter of Benjamin 
and Sarah Buffum, born in Royalston Oct. 11, 1840, and died 
in September, 1878. He married (second) Feb. 1, 1882, Ehzabeth 
A. Heywood of Indianapolis, Ind., who died March 17, 1884. 
He married (3) July 14, 1883, Louise M. Lawrence, daughter of 
Charles S. and Maria (Hervey) Lawrence of Oxford, Mass. 

The other children of Nathan and E.nily (Lovett) Bliss were: 
Ameha Lucretia, born Oct. 7, 1834; Helen Jane, born April 9, 
1836, died Nov. 9, 1898; Julia Louisa, born Jan. 4, 1838, married 
William F. Jordm; Nicena Jane, born May 1, 1840, married 
Azro K. Green; Alfreda Maria, born May 7, 1842, married 



THE BLISS FAMILY 295 

Charles P. Hoppin. Mrs. Emilj^ (Lovett) Bliss died March 16, 
1805. 

Harrison Bliss, son of Abel and Nicena (Ballon) Bliss was 
born in Royalston Oct. 9, 1812. What education he received in 
school was obtained in his native town. He started out at the 
age of eighteen to make his own living, and landed in Worcester 
with just seventeen cents in his pockets. He went to work first 
for Dr. Oliver Fiske at the very place where he afterwards 
bought one of the finest houses in the city. He worked four 
years in the Worcester Post-Office, after which he went into 
business with Deacon Alexander Harris in the SaHsbury block 
in Lincoln Square deahng in groceries and flour. He sold his 
interest in the store in 1850, and later opened a flour store in 
pirtnership with T. and J. Sutton under the name of Bliss, 
Sutton & Co., on Mechanic street, Worcester, and in 1857 sold 
out to his partners. From that time to his death he was occupied 
with his real estate and banking business. Mr. Bliss was Presi- 
dent of the New Bedford & Taunton Branch of the Boston, 
Clinton & Fitchburg railroad, Vice-president of the Framingham 
and Lowell Branch. In company with the late Francis H. Dewey 
he founded the Mechanics National Bank in 1848, of which he 
was President from 1860 to his death in 1882. He was interested 
in the Mechanics Savings Bank from its organization in 1851, and 
was President from 1864 to his death. He was also interested 
in the old Music Hall corporation and in the Bay State House 
Corporation. He was prominent in city affairs, represented 
the City of W^orcester in the General Court in 1855, 1865 and 
1874, and was an alderman in 1861, 1863, 1864, 1865, 1875 and 
1876. He was the chief owner of the Oriental Powder Co., 
manufacturing gunpowders near Portland, Me. During the 
Franco Prussian war he made a large sum of money selling 
powder to the belligerents. He married Sarah H. Howe, daughter 
of Wm. FTowe of Worcester, April 5, 1836. Mrs. Bliss died July 
24, 1882, a few weeks after her husband. She was a very capable 
woman and famous for her charities. Mr. BHss died July 7, 
1882. Their children were: Harrison, Jr., born July 30, 1843, 
he married Amy Brown of Dighton, Nov. 6, 1864, and died 
May 12, 1868; Sarah, born Sept. 22, 1845, died Nov. 18, 1849; 
William Howe, born Sept. 23, 1850, married (first) Nellie J. 
Winch INIay 31, 1883, married (second) Florence E. W. Weston 
April 15, 1891; Pamelia Washburn, born May 21, 1854, died 



ig(, HISTORY OF ROYALSTON" 

Sept. 0, 1854; Lizzie Davis, born IVIarch 12, 1856, m.inied 
Francis H. Dewey Dec. 12, 1878. They have one son and one 
daughter. 

TIMOTHY BLISS BRANCH OF THE BLISS FAMILY 

Timothy Bliss, son of Capt. Nathaniel BUss and Mehital)Ie 
Whitaker of Rehol)oth, Mass., was born in Rehoboth Jnn. 4, 
1733. He settled on the Warwick roid west of the Baptist 
Common where he made a purchase of six hundred acres which 
must have covered a part of the Moore Grant. He married 
Anna Hale Kingsley of Rehoboth Aug 23, 1752. They had 
twelve children, of whom only three were born in Royalston. 
He settled his son, Israel, with him on the homestead, who had 
a family of eleven children and removed to New York state, 
when the place became incorporated with other farms. Timothy 
Bliss died Jan. 4, 1822, age 89, and his wife Anna Hale Bliss 
Jan. 8, 1829, aged 92. 

Aaron Bliss, son of Timothy Bliss and Anna Hale Kingsley^ 
was born Sept. 20, 1753. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary 
Army. He married Mary Woodbury Dec. 8, 1778, and died 
at Royalston Sept. 13, 1849, at the age of 96 years. His wife 
died Feb. 16, 1829, 70 years of age. Their children were: Aaron, 
born Feb. 10, 1792, married Olive Frazy of Gill, March 7, 1830; 
Andrew, born March 13, 1790, died March 26, 1795; Stephen, 
born Jan. 21, 1786, died Sept. 14, 1835; Benjamin W., born 
June 7, 1795; Anna, born May 3, 1779; Betty, born July 17, 
1782, married Jonathan Woodbury Jan. 21, 1802; Mary, born 
Jan. 16, 1781; and Rhoda, born March 13, 1788, and died March 
23, 1795. 

Aaron was succeeded on his farm by his son Benjamin W . 
Bliss, born June 7, 1795. He served in the War of 1812-1815 and 
lived and died on the old homestead. He was married Nov. 10, 
1816, to Lois Walker, daughter of Daniel and Lucy (Garfield) 
Walker. He died of typhoid fever July 24, 1869. She died at 
Royalston Dec, 6, 1874, aged 77 years. Their children were: 
Andrew Jackson, born April 8, 1820; Benjamin W., Jr., born 
Nov. 12, 1824; Mary Ann, born Sept. 12, 1831, mcrried Nov. 
9, 1849, Amos Martin, farmer, of Richmond, N. H.; Persis 
Ann Lucretia, born July 26, 1835, married Nov. 4, 1855, Lemuel 
H. Rawson, farmer, of Orange, Mass. 



THE BLISS FAMILY 197 

PhiUi'p Harrison Bliss, son of Benjamin W. Bliss, was born 
in Royalston Sept. 21, 1841, in the same house that his father 
was born in, on June 6, 1795. He received his education in the 
common schools of Royalston, High Scliool in Winchester, N. 
H., Bernardston, Mass., and the Athol High School. He com- 
menced teaching school in 1862, which he continued until 1879, 
living on the farm where he was born until 1880, when he moved 
to Athol, and entered the grocery store of S. E. Fay & Co., as 
clerk where he remained eight years. He then entered the shoe 
shop of the C. M. Lee Co., where he was employed as a cutter 
for twelve years, after which he worked for the L. S. Starrett Co. 
for eleven years, when he removed to West Acton, Mass., which 
has since been his home. He united with the Baptist Church 
in West Royalston in 1858, of which he was a member until 
he joined the Athol Baptist Church in 1884, and the West Acton 
Church in 1911. He was chosen a Deacon in the Royalston 
church in 1868, and has held that office in the several churches 
of which he has been a member to the present time. He sang 
in the church choir forty-seven years and was chorister twenty- 
one years. He was for three years a member of the Royalston 
School Committee, has been clerk of the churches and Sunday 
schools of which he has l^een a member and clerk of the Millers 
River Baptist Association of Churches for eleven years. 

He was married in 1868, to Julia H. Hill, daughter of Charles 
and Sarah P. Hill of West Royalston. She was born Aug. 31, 
1846. Their children are: Bessie E., born July 1, 1872; Grace 
I., born Jan. 27, 1875; and May J., born Oct. 27, 1880. 

Daniel Bliss, son of Timothy and Tammy (Wait) Bliss 
was born July 17, 1797. He married Harriet Peck, daughter 
of Lt. Daniel Peck, Oct. 11, 1821, and died Sept. 6, 1863. They 
had seven children: Lucy Ann, Elmer Wait, Hervey Winchell, 
Emily Augusta, Mary Amanda, Timothy Warner, Delia Jose- 
phine. 

Hervetj Winchell Bliss, son of Daniel and Harriet (Peck) 
Bhss, was born in Royalston Sept. 19, 1827. He married Sarah 
M. Tower, who was born in Lancaster, Mass., June 21, 1827. 
She died at Royalston March 31, 1865, being thrown from a 
carriage on Jacobs Hill. They had three children: Kate Maria, 
born March 14, 1858, died Feb. 26, 1865; James Henry, born 
Sept. 2, 1860, and Julia Tower, born May 24, 1863. Julia married 
Dr. E. G. Fosgate in 1888, and died at Ashburnham, Mass., June, 



igS HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

1901. She left one daughter, Hazel Ella, born Sept. 26, 1892, 
who graduated at Mt. Holyoke College. 

Mr. Bliss married (second) Nov. 7, 1866, Mrs. Nancy T. 
Tucker of Barre, Mass. There were no children by the second 
marriage that lived. He moved to a farm near Royalston 
Centre in April, 1866, which he owned and occupied some ten 
years, and moved to Winchester, N. H., in the spring of 1876. 
He was a member of the School Committee of Royalston and 
served the town of Winchester as Selectman one year. He joined 
the Congregational Church at the age of fourteen years, and was 
for many years a deacon of the Congregational Church in Win- 
chester. He died in Winchester Sept. 20, 1902. 

Jamz8 Hervey Bliss, son of Hervey W. and Sarah (Tower) 
Bliss, was born in Royalston Sept. 2, 1860. He graduated from 
the Winchester High School in 1878, and soon after began 
clerking in the general store of F. Weeks & Co. After about 
eight years in the store he bought out the grocery, crockery and 
shoe departments, which he carried on for twenty years, selling 
out in 1907 when he went into the manufacture of boxes in which 
he is now engaged. He was elected to the New Hampshire 
Legislature in 1901. He is a member of the Winchester Grange, 
and has held several m'nor town offices. He joined the Congre- 
gational church in 1884, and has been Superintendent of the Sun- 
day school. He married Feb. 14, 1888, Ella L. Gates of Winches- 
ter, formerly of Wendell, Mass. She died in October of the same 
year. In March, 1890, he married Alice R. Foster of Winchester. 
She died Feb. 22, 1901. Three children were born to them: 
Olive S., born Jan. 20, 1892; Hervey G., born April 20, 1893; 
and E. Palmer, born Dec. 26, 1894. 

Elmer Wait Bliss, oldest son of Daniel and Harriet (Peck) 
Bliss, was born in Royalston May .31, 1824. His early life was 
spent in his native town. In 1850 he went to California in 
search of gold via the Isthmus of Panama. He spent six years 
in California and Oregon. In 1857 he married Elizabeth God- 
dard of Petersham. For some j^ears he was engaged in the manu- 
facture of furniture in the firm of Dwlnnell & Bliss of Brattle- 
boro, Vt., and for a time was employed in the Estey Organ shops. 
He with severcil others formed the Burdett Organ Co. in Brattle- 
boro; they removed their business to Chicago, where they lost 
everything in the great fire of 1871. The business was then 
re-established in Erie, Pa., where it was carried on for many 



THE BLISS FAMILY 199 

years. He retired fro-n business about 189D. In 1904 he sold 
his home in Erie and returned to Brattleboro, to live with his 
daughter, who that year was married to Walter F. Goddard. 
He died Aug. 18, 1911, aged 87 years two months and 18 days. 
His wife died some sixteen years before. He was survived by 
his daughter, Mrs. W. F. Goddard and one grand-daughter. 
Miss Elizabeth Taylor of Brattleboro. He was a man of strong 
character, industrious, thorough and conscientious in all he did. 
Timothy Warner Bhss and Deha Josephine BHss, youngest 
children of Daniel and Harriet (Peck) Bliss, died in infancy. 

Timothy Bliss, Jr., second son of Timothy and Anne Hale 
(Kingsley) Bliss was born Jan. 10, 1756. He was a wheelwright 
and farmer. He married Tammy Wait May 18, 1780. She was 
born at Cape Ann June 15, 1759, and died Oct. 16, 1850. He died 
Feb. 9, 1815. They had ten children, only three of whom are 
recorded as born in Rayalston. The family probably removed 
to Vermont. 



THE WOODBURY FAMILY 

One of the very earliest families to settle in Royalston, 
and which for more than a century was prominently identified 
with the public, so3ial and religious life of the town, was the 
Woodbury family. It was a large family and through its 
descendants became connected with many of the most promi- 
nent families of the town. The immigrant ancestor of this 
family, John Woodbury, came to America from England in 
1624. 

Berijamni, of the fourth generation, had children as follows: 
Joseph, born Sept. 27, 1722; Benjamin, born Feb. 5, 1726; 
Joshua, born March 25, 1723; EUzabeth, born Oct. 28, 1730; 
Lot. born Oct. 11, 1733; Peter, born May 20, 1736; Jonathan 
and brother, born Nov. 10, 1740; Ruth, born Oct. 15, 1745. 
The father of these children died Aug. 22, 1781, in the 84th 
year of his age; the m3ther died Dec. 10, 1783 in the 85th 
year of her age. 

Captain Peter Woodbury, fifth son of Benjamin Woodbury, 
was born May 20, 1736, and moved with his family from 
Sutton, Mass. to Royalston about the year 1763, and settled 
on the farm where a fifth generation was born, and which 



200 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

was in possession of the Woodl)ury family until Feb. 15, 1904, 
when it was sold to Emory A. Holden, the present owner. 
The houses on the place were burned. 

Captain Peter Woodbury had a large family of sons and 
daughters, ten of whom liYed to have families of their own. 
He was one of the most prominent men in the early history of 
the tow.-: was the first Town Treasurer, serving from 1765 to 
1770 inclusive, Town Clerk ten years, between 1782 and 1794, 
Selectman sixteen years, Assessor three years, and Representa- 
tive to the Great and General Court in 1788, '89. He was 
captain of a Royalston company in the Revolution, and it is 
related of him, probably on the occasion of the Burgoyne 
alarm, that he marched into the meetinghouse in time of 
divine service and gave out this military order: "Every 
man belonging to my company turn out." He kept a public 
house for many years. He married first, Ruth Sibley, Dec. 
16, 1754, who died March 23, 1755; he married, second, 
Zerviah Greenwood, Jan. 18, 1759; both of these marriages 
were in Sutton before he removed to Royalston ; he married a 
third time, Mrs. Mary Chase of Royalston, April 5, 1792. 
He died Feb. 24, 1806, at the age of seventy years. 

The children of Captain Peter Woodbury were: Peter, born 
March 14, 1755; Lot, born March 15, 1760; Daniel, born March 
22, 1762; Sally, born Aug. 31, 1764; Jonathan, born Jan. 26, 
1767; Ruth, born March 3, 1769; Zerviah, born May 25, 1771; 
John, born Sept. 12, 1773; Benjamin, born March 6, 1776; 
James, born Dec. 31, 1778; Ruth, born Jan. 7, 1781; Joseph, 
born July 7, 1784. 

Lot, James, Jonathan and John removed to Bethlehem, 
N. H.; Sally Woodbury married Deacon Ebenezer Pierce of 
Warwick, Mass. She was survived by four sons and one 
daughter. Three of the sons were deacons of the church. 

The first Ruth died Sept. 15, 1777; the second Ruth 
married Samuel Greenwood of Wendell, May 29, 1800, and 
surviving him, married Hon. Joseph Estabrook of Royalston, 
June 17, 1810. She died Sept. 16, 1814 in her 38th year; 
Zerviah married John Wood of Royalston, April 26, 1792; 
Joseph died at Stoddard, N. H., Aug. 20, 1812. 

Cayi. Daniel Woodbury, second son of Capt. Peter Wood- 
bury, was born Nov. 22, 1762. He married Esther Waite 
July 25, 1785. The record says, "I was 23 the 22nd day of 



THE WOODBURY FAMILY 201 

the March before, and my wife 21, the 28th of the January 
l.efore." 

The children of Dani-el and Esther (Waite) Woodbury 
were: George, born March 1, 1786, died Nov. 27, 1801; 
Daniel, born Nov. 25, 1789, died Aug. 9, 1803; Jonathan, born 
May 30, 1792, died Sept. 7, 1795; Polly, born Oct. 24, 1796, 
died Aug. 20, 1803; Peter, born July 31, 1799, died Nov. 17, 
1884; Daniel, born May 17, 1812, died Feb. 29, 1813. Esther 
(Waite) Woodbury, the mother of these children, died April 7, 
1824. 

Capt. Daniel married, second, Mrs. Persis Chase of War- 
wick, March 21, 1825; she died Oct. 16, 1856. Capt. Daniel 
Woodbury died Oct. 13, 1843. 

Feter Woodbury, the only child of Capt. Daniel and 
Esther (Waite) Woodbury to grow to manhood, was born 
July 31, 1799. He married Oct. 29, 1822, Amanda Faulkner, 
daughter of Ammi and Anna (Towne) Faulkner, who was 
born Oct. 16, 1800. 

The children of Peter and Amanda (Faulkner) Woodbury 
were: George, born July 31, 1823; Abigail Mayo, born Nov. 
27, 1824, and an infant son, who lived only a few days. 
Amanda (Faulkner) Woodbury died Jan. 29, 1827, and Peter 
Woodbury married, second, Lucinda Raymond of Winchendon 
Dec. 13, 1827. The children of Peter and Lucinda (Ray- 
mond) Woodbury were: Daniel Raymond, born Sept. 17, 
1828, died April 18, 1903; James Peter, born Dec. 28, 1831; 
Amanda Lucinda, born Nov. 21, 1836. 

Lucinda (Raymond) Woodbury died April 14, 1877 and 
Peter Woodbury Nov. 17, 1884. 

George Woodbury, son of Peter and Amanda (Faulkner) 
Woodbury was the first child born in the house built by 
Capt. Daniel Woodbury, and was born July 31, 1823, the 24th 
birthday of his father. He was an active man in public 
affairs, was Town Treasurer from 1855 to 1857 inclusive, 
and clerk of the parish for many years. He sang in the 
church choir forty years, and was for twenty-five years a 
member of Star Lodge F. & A. M. of Athol. He married 
July 4, 1849, Almira Greenwood Chase of Warwick, who was 
horn Dec. 25, 1826. She held the pen of a ready writer in 
verse, and often furnished verses for many occasions, the 
Rojalston Centennial Hymn having been written by her 



202 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

George Woodbury died Nov. 18, 1895. 

Children of George and Almira (Chase) Woodbury were: 
Antoinette Hemans, born June 16, 1850, died April 27, 1865; 
Martha Ahnira, born July 29, 1853; George Edward, born 
Dec. 8, 1855; WiUiam Arthur, born Nov. 14, 1863, died May 
11, 1865; Leshe Hanks, born Feb. 3, 1866. These children 
are the ninth generation from the first Peter, who came from 
England, and the fifth generation bearing the name of Wood- 
bury born on the old farm at Royalston. 

Martha Almira Woodbury, second child of George and 
Almira (Chase) Woodbury, married William A. Brodie of 
Geneseo, N. Y., July 24, 1889 and resides in that city. 

Gew-ge Edward Woodburij, oldest son of George and Almira 
(Chase) Woodbury, married Miss Cora J. Fisher of Royalston, 
April 7, 1881. They had one child, Chester Leslie, born 
Jan. 28, 1885. Mrs. Cora J. Woodbuiy died in Maiden in 
1914, and her remains were brought to Royalston for burial. 

Leslie Hanks Woodbury, married Mrs. Cora A. (Nelson) 
Wetherbee of Royalston, March 31, 1894. They reside in 
Tacoma, Washington. George Woodbury their son, is the 
wireless operator on the United States Steamer Dirigo, plying 
between Alaska and Unalaska. 

James Peter Woodbury, son of Peter and Lucinda (Ray- 
mond) Woodbury, was born in Royalston, Dec. 28, 1831. 
He married Martha Abigail Brown of Winchendon, June 20, 
1859. He was a well-known farmer in Royalston, living on 
the old Woodbury homestead. His wife died Oct. 31, 1886, 
and he removed to Springfield, Vt., Dec. 20, 1887. He 
married, second, JuUa Stephens of Springfield, Vt., Sept. 12, 
1888. His occupation while living in Springfield was that of 
coachman and landscape gardening. He died Aug. 4, 1907, 
and was buried in Royalston. 

Amanda Lucinda Woodbury, daughter of Peter and 
Lucinda (Raymond) Woodbury, was born in Royalston Nov. 
21, 1836. She married Benjamin Frankhn Wyman, June 23, 
1869. They resided in Chester, Vt., where Mr. Wyman was 
a cabinet-maker by trade. He was a member of the Congre- 
gational Church, in which he held several offices, and of Henry 
Post, G. A. R., of which he was commander. He served in 
the Civil War three years, being a member of Co. K, r23d 



THE WOODBURY FAMILY 203 

New York Regiment, and received a medal from the New 
York State Commission as a survivor of the battle of Gettys- 
burg. He died in July, 1909. They had no children. 

Deacon Benjamin Woodbury, brother of Capt. Peter 
Woodbury, was also an early settler. He came from Sutton, 
and settled the next place south of the Wilson Bragg place 
on the Athol road. He organized with the First Congregational 
Church Oct. 13, 1766, and was one of its first deacons, serving 
from 1768 to 1779. He was one of the Selectmen of the 
town for ten years, between 1765 and 1781. He died Oct. 17, 
1793 at the age of 68. 

Benajah Woodhury, another brother, also from Sutton, 
settled at the foot of the hill on the Athol road on the place 
once known as the Artemas Raymond place. He died Feb. 22, 
1802, at the age of 55 years. Neither of the last-named 
families have had representatives in town for more than half 
a century. 



THE WALKER FAMILY 

The emigrant ancestor of the Obadiah Walker family of 
Sutton, from whom the Royalston Walkers are descended, 
was Thomas Walker, who came from London to Boston in 
1650. His mother's will reads as follows: "Hannah Walker 
of London, widow, April 10, 1675. 

"I give and bequeath unto my son, Thomas Walker of 
Sudbury in New England, in the parts beyond the seas, 
merchant, the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds of lawful 
money of England to be paid to him or his assigns within 
twelve months next after my decease. In case of his death 
before it becomes payable, I give the said sum to his wife? 
Mary, for the use of their children, if she be then living, but 
if dead then to the Executors of my son Thomas for the use 
of the children." 

IL Tho7nas ]Valker, Jr., son of Thomas and Mary was 
born May 22, 1664. He lived in Framingham, where he was 
held in great respect; he was Town Treasurer in 1700 and 
constable in 1703, and was an original member of the Framing- 
ahm Church. He married Martha How, daughter of Samuel 
How, born Oct. 9, 1669. He died Oct. 25, 1717, and Mr. 



204 HISTORY OF ROVALSTOIT 

Swift notices his burial, October 27, as follows: '' Hodie 
Sopultus Tho. Walker; proh: dolor!" He had ten children. 

III. Lieut. Ohadiah Walker, son of Thomas A. Jr., and 
Martha, married first, May 2, 1715, Hannah Learned. They 
lived in Marlboro and Suttom She died July 6, 1744. He 
married second, Oct. 28, 1845, in Uxbridge, Mrs. Eunice 
White of Uxbridge. He had six childi-en by his first wife and 
one by his second. 

IV. Lieut. Ohadiah Walker, son of Obadiah and Hannah 
(Learned) Walker, born June 8, 1721, married Nov. 12, 1741, 
Hepzibah Shumway of Oxford. He was the Obadiah Jr., in 
the list of officers and men from Sutton in the Colonial 
Service, 1755-1761 for various lengths of time. This is the 
Obadiah who came to Royalston from Sutton and Douglas. 
He had eight children. He died in Croydon, N. H., in 1810 
at the age of 90 years. 

V. Ohadiah Walker, son of Obadiah and Hepzibah Walker, 
born Jan. 2, 1745, married Agnes McCullough of Barre, Aug. 
24, 1775. He was a Revolutionary soldier, enlisting as a 
private from Barre in Captain Black's Company of Minute 
Men on the alarm of April 19, 1775; also Corporal in Capt. 
Wm. Henry's Company, Colonel Whitney's Regiment. He 
had eight children. 

VI. Asa Walker, son of Obadiah and Agnes (McCullough) 
Walker, born at Royalston in 1778, married April 4, 1821, 
Anstis, daughter of Captain Joseph and Elizabeth Jacobs, 
born Aug. 15, 1797. Children: Marias, died July 21, 1842 of 
consumption; William, Nathaniel, Obadiah and Joseph. 
Asa was in the war of 1812, serving 35 days with the Royal- 
ston Company in 1814. He died Dec. 10, 1830. His wife 
died in Otter River, Dec. 17, 1872. 

VII. William N. Walker, oldest son of Asa and Anstis 
(Jacobs) Walker was born in Royalston, Nov. 14, 1823. He 
died in Otter River, Nov. 30, 1906. He went to Otter River 
when a young man, and lived there until his death. For 
several years he was engaged in the manufacture of stoves. 
He married Minerva Horton, April 19, 1849; she died Aug. 6, 
1893, and he married, second, Sarah D. Bowman, Dec. 16, 
1897, with whom he lived at the time of his death, and who 
survived him only a few months. He had two sons by his 



THE WALKER FAMILY 205 

first wife, George E., born May 8, 1852 and Aleck M., born 
Nov. 2, 1856. 

George E. Walker married Susie J. Stewart Oct. 20, 1875. 
He lived in Gardner for several years, was a machinist, and 
was quite prominent in the Masonic order. He died at his 
home in Gardner, April 8, 1909. His wife, Susie J., died 
April 7, 1899. They had two children, AUce M. Walker, 
who has been a bank clerk in Gardner and Arthur W. Walker 
who is proprietor of a jewelry store in Somerville. He 
married Octavia M. Perkins, Oct. 7, 1907. 

Aleck Walker, married Hattie B. Parkhurst, July 2, 1876. 
He died April 14, 1884, and was survived by his widow who 
is now living in Sprin^aeld. 

Deacon Joseph Walksr, son of Asa and Anstis (Jacobs) 
Walker, was born in Royalston, June 30, 1825; he married 
Nancy S. Thomas of Winchendon, Jan. 9, 1849; she was born 
June 27, 1828. From 1849 to 1858 they lived in Worcester, 
where he carried on the business of carpenter and builder. In 
1858 he removed to Royalston, where he worked at his trade 
until the war of the Rebellion, when he enlisted Aug. 27, 1882 
in Co. D., 36th Regiment Mass. Volunteers, of which he was 
made first sergeant. Was in the hospital at Washington, 
and discharged for disability Oct. 29, 1883. After partially 
recovering from his illness, he went back into the service as 
clerk in the Commissary Department, where he remained 
until the close of the war. He was elected as Representative 
to the Legislature in 1877. Soon after that time he opened 
a store in a building just off the Common on the South 
Royalston road, where he kept a general store until his 
death, June 16, 1888. He served the town at different times 
as Town Clerk, Selectman, Overseer-of-the-Poor, and was 
Town Treasurer twelve years. For many years he was 
deacon in the First Congregational Church. Nancy (Thomas) 
Walker died in Athol, Oct. 21, 1893. 

Children of Deacon Joseph and Anstis (Jacobs) Walker: 
Joseph Nelson, an infant, died in Worcester; Clarence J., 
Herbert Thomas and Florence A. 

Clarence J. Walker, oldest son of Joseph and Nancy 
(Thomas) Walker, was born in Worcester, June 6, 1855. His 
parents removed to Royalston when he was a child and he 
received his education in the schools of Royalston. He 



206 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

carried the Uiiitod States mail, driving the stage from 
South Royalston to the Centre for four years. He married 
Miss Edith C. Longley, daughter of Timothy M. Longley of 
Royalston Centre, and removed to Webster, Mass., where he 
now resides. He has been station agent at East Webster 
for the past thirty-two years. He has sung in the quartette 
of the First Baptist Church of Webster for twenty-eight 
years, and was Town Auditor for more than twelve years. 
They have had four sons, three of whom died in infancy. 
One son is living and resides in West Springfield, Clifford 
Maurice Walker. He is a clerk in the trainmaster's office 
of the B. & A. R. R. 

Herbert Thomas Walker, son of Joseph and Nancy, was 
born in Royalston, May 24, 1867; attended the public schools 
of Royalston Centre and the Bryant & Stratton Commercial 
School in Boston in 1887 and 188S. He married, April 2^ 
1893, Elsie J. Sears of Charlemont, Mass. They' have no 
children. He is a member of Star Lodge of Masons of Athol, 
and Charlemont Grange. Since 1894 he has been engaged 
in the mercantile and fire insurance business. 

Florence A. Walker, daughter of Joseph and Nancy 
(Thomas) Walker, was born in Royalston. She was a teacher 
in the Royalston and Athol schools for several years, and 
afterwards graduated from the Gordon Missionary Training 
School in Boston. After working as a missionary in South 
Boston for about three years, she married Dr. Chiron W. 
Smith of Boston, in Webster, May 20, 1897. They have 
lived in Marlboro, Mass., for a number of years. 

Obacliah Walker, youngest son of Asa and Anstis Walker, 
was born in Royalston, Oct. 28, 1826. He married Harriet 
W. Wilder of Winchendon, June 29, 1854. She was born 
July 15, 1832 in Hingham, Mass., her father being one of 
fifteen children. When a young man he went to work in a 
Gardner chair shop, where he lost one hand, after which he 
went to New Salem Academy and studied bookkeeping. 
He then became a pedlar of Yankee notions, going about the 
country with tin trunks strapped over his back and shoulders. 
After a while he got a horse and wagon and put out palm 
leaf and sold dry goods. He then had charge of the Union 
store that formerly stood on Royalston Common where 
the church parsonage now is, and later carried on liusiness 



THE WALKER FAMILY 207 

there for himself, it being a general country store. He sold 
out to Franklin Richardson, and after living in Winchendon 
a few months returned to Royalston about 1866 and bought 
the house near the Estabrook place, and also bought the store 
business of Chas. H. Newton. Was appointed postmaster in 
1870, which position he held until he sold his store to John 
L. Kiig in 1S82. He was Town Treasurer from 1867 to 1873. 

The TownHall was built during the time that he was treasurer. 
The town voted that it should cost $10,000, and when the 
bills were all figured up it was found to be one cent under 
the appropriation. In 1882 he moved to Littleton, where he 
remained some over two years, and in 1884 went to North 
Reading, Mass., and bought a store, which he sold to Carpen- 
ter and French, Aug. 7, 1886. He died the same month. 

The children of Obadiah and Harriet (Wilder) Walker 
were: Harriet Eva, Charles Sumner, Lizzie Lincoln and 
Edward Everett. 

Harriet Eva Walker was born Oct. 23, 1855. She married 
Jerome L Wetherbee of Royalston, May 28, 1882. They 
reside in Fitchlnirg. 

Charles Sumner Walker, was born Aug. 7, 1857, in Royal- 
ston. He attended the schools of his native town, and when 
about twenty-one years of age went to Fitchburg, where he 
married Georgetta M. Tucker, April 2, 1884, and soon after 
went to North Reading, where he was in company with his 
father in a general store business. After his father's death 
in 1886 and the sale of the store he removed to Chelsea, Mass., 
where he was in a market with C. B. Fox for about seventeen 
years. He was then in another market until the Chelsea 
fire of April, 1908, when both his residence and place pf 
business were burned. He remained in Chelsea about a year 
and a half, when he removed to Dorchester and later to 
Winter Hill, Somerville, where he now resides, and is em- 
ployed in a Boston market. His wife died in Chelsea, Feb. 
26, 1903, and he married, second, Maud Brown of Chelsea, 
Oct. 10, 1904. He has a son by his first wife, Charles 
Tucker Walker, born at North Reading, Feb. 17, 1885, who 
resides in Chelsea. 

Lizzie Lincoln Walker, born April 29, 1862, died Jan. 15, 
1898. She was one of the librarians of the public library, 
removed with her parents to North Reading, and on the 



208 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

death of her father returned with her mother to Royalston; 
which was her home until her death. 

Edward Everett Walker, born Jan. 4, 1865 and died Feb. 16, 
1865. 

Mrs. Harriet Wilder Walker died 

THE MOSES WALKER FAMILY 

Moses Walker, whose relationship to Asa Walker we have 
not been able to ascertain, is said to have come from Athol to 
Eoyalston about 1800 and settled in the southwest part of 
the town. He was born in 1765 and died Feb. 23, 1841. He 
married May 2, 1791, Lydia Bigelow. 

The children of Moses and Lydia (Bigelow) Walker 
were: Nancy, born March 9, 1793, married Isaac Nichols^ 
May 25, 1813, and died in 1871. She had children, all of 
whom died before she did; Lydia, born Sept. 13, 1794, married 
Weston Ball of Warwick, Mass., at Troy, N. H., May 27, 
1817; George M. and Addie J. Wheeler of Orange were her 
grandchildren. John Bigelow Walker, born Feb. 23, 1796, 
married Mercy S. Metcalf, Jan. 25, 1820; Ruth, born Aug. 5, 
1797, married Jason Fisher of Royalston, Feb. 19, 1819. 
Cynthia, born Dec. 19, 1798, married Ebenezer Wheeler Dexter 
of Royalston, Sept. 23, 1817; Susanna, born Mar. 19, 1800, 
died Oct. 12, 1839; Rowena, born Jan 12, 1802, died May 6, 
1803. 

John Bigelow Walker, only son of Moses and Lydia 

(Bigelow) Walker, had three children: John Bigelow, Jr., 

Rebeccah Metcalf and Minerva N. 

John Bigelow Walker, Jr., born in Royalston, June 1, 1824, 
married in 1853, Cornelia M. Moody of Northfield, sister 
of the Evangelist, Dwight L. Moody; their children were 

Lillian A., who married Chas. E. Cheney of Brooklyn, 

N. Y., and resided in that city, Julia R., who resided in 

Northfield with her mother; George B., who died in infancy; 
Ho-pe E., who was a bookkeeper in New York City, and 

Samuel Edwin, who married Maud Phillips and lived in East 

Northfield. 

Rebeccah Metcalf Walker, born June 6, 1827, married 

David P. Foster of Royalston, March 25, 1847. 

Minerva N., born Dec. 21, 1833, was unmarried, and lived 

in East Northfield. The records of the Moses Walker family 



THE WAI^KER FAMILY 209 

were furnished by her from the family Bible. Calvin had a 
:son Hiram who resided in Washington, D. C, about 1900; 
Willard, born May 11, 1802, married Phoebe Thurston of 
Orange, Nov. 14, 1826; Rhoda, born Nov. 11, 1799. Hannah, 
born June 7, 1804; Reuben, born Feb. 24, 1742, died in 
Royalston, Feb. 24, 1826, at the age of eighty-four years; 
Ms only child a son died in Uxbridge, Mass. before the death 
of his parents; Martha, married Ephraim Hill, Oct. 29, 1789> 
Elijah Walker, who came from Douglas to Royalston with 
his father Obadiah, was born May 17, 1756. He lived in the 
west part of Royalston and married June 4, 1782, Abigail 
Hill of Royalston. After he was seventy years old he would 
walk four miles to church. He died April 14, 1836 at the age 
of eighty. His children were: William, who went to Croydon, 
N. H.; Ja7nes, who was born July 13, 1785 and married Sally 
Brewer, Nov. 26, 1807; she died in 1860 at the age of ninety- 
five. They had a son Elias, who had a son Errick D., who 
lived in Athol many years; Jonah, born Aug. 1, 1789, married 
Mary Swan of Richmond, N. H., July 23, 1813, daughter of 
Dr. Ebenezer Swan. They had a son Lyman, born March 16, 
1814, who married, Oct. 15, 1835, Emeline Ingram of Amherst, 
Mass. He was a harness-maker, and removed to Fond du 
Lac, Wis., where he followed his trade. When the war 
broke out he enlisted in the First Wisconsin Cavalry, serving 
in the department of equipment. He had one daughter, 
Emiline Lisle, who was born while her parents resided in the 
old historic house celebrated as the birthplace of Rev. Hosea 
Ballou in Richmond, N. H. She was legally renamed Lisle 
Lester, was educated at Lawrence University, Wis., and 
became celebrated as a lecturer, elocutionist and journalist, 
and traveled extensively in this country and Europe. She 
was correspondent of London, New York and San Francisco 
papers and resided in New York engaged in literary pursuits. 
Lyman Walker, her father, died in Fond du Lac in 1883 at 
the age of sixty-eight years 



THE BALLOU FAMILY 

The Ballous of Royalston and Richmond, N. H., are 
descended from Maturin Ballou, a co-proprietor with Roger 



210 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

AVilliams, the Colonial founder of Rhode Island, in the 
Providence Plantations. It is supposed that he was "the 
younger son of a younger son of a good family in Devonshire," 
England, born probably between 1610 and 1620, who like all 
the unendowed offshoots of feudal nobility had to seek his 
fortune for himself, and chose to emigrate to America. About 
the year 1767 a general interest had sprung up in the County 
of Providence R. I., in favor of emigration to Richmond, 
N. H., where considerable tracts of new land were offered for 
sale at temptingly low prices. Many farmers in Smithfield, 
Glocester, Cumberland and the neighboring towns, who had 
large families growing up to need homes or who otherwise 
desired to better their circumstances made haste to purchase 
those Richmond, N. H. lands, where small outlays would 
secure ample homesteads. Among these emigrants were 
several families of Ballous. 

One of this company was Rev. Maturin Ballou of the 
fourth generation from the immigrant Maturin. He was a 
Baptist minister and was among the first, if not the very first, 
to preach the Baptist gospel in New Hampshire. He had 
eleven children, four of the six sons being distinguished preachers, 
Hosea Ballou, the youngest son being renowTied as a cham- 
pion of Universalism wherever that creed or doctrine is known, 
and a grandson Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2d, was the first 
among his ministerial brethren to receive the title D.D., 
and first president of Tufts College. 

From another of these Ballou families was descended 
Eliza Ballou, the mother of President Gai-field, whose birth- 
place was just over the Royalston line in Richmond, and 
who belongs to the same branch of the family as those who 
are connected with Royalston history. Some of the most 
prominent and distinguished Royalston families are connected 
by marriage with the Ballous; these include the Bullocks, and 
the Bliss, White and Davis families. 

The Ballous, who belong especially to Royalston history 
are the family of Luther Ballou, of the sixth generation 
from Maturin the immigrant. 

Luther- Ballou was born in Richmond, N. H., Sept. 7, 1797. 
He married Dec. 3, 1818, Clarissa Davis, daughter of Captain 
Joseph and Sophia (White) Davis, who was born in Royalston, 





MRS. LUTHER BALLOU 



LUTHER BALLOU 





SOPHIA (BALLOU) MORANDI 



ALMANDO BALLOU 



THE BALLOU FAMILY 211 

March 11, 1797. They had twelve children, all of whom 
were born in Royalston.. 

There are some remarkable circumstances connected with 
this family. Of the twelve children, all born of the same 
mother, all grew up to maturity without the occurrence of a 
single infantile death. The names of the seven daughters 
all end with the letter ''a," and those of the five sons all end 
with the letter "o." The parents of these children were emi- 
nently worthy people, both descendants of a robust, intelligent 
ancestry — not professed church members, but exemplars of 
solid moral rectitude ■ — Universalists in religious faith, hope 
and charity — industrious and economical farmers by occupa- 
tion, much attached to their rural home, and universally 
respected in the community. Their old homestead was in the 
extreme northwestern part of Royalston near the celebrated 
"Royal Cascade" or "Forbes Falls" as it is commonly known. 

The children of Luther and Clarissa (Davis) Ballou 
are: 1. Sophia, born Sept, 22, 1819. She married Francis 
Morandi, Feb. 6, 1845, a son of Stephen and Elizabeth 
(Anderson) Morandi, born in Boston, Dec. 3, 1813. Mrs, 
Sophia and her husband were well matched. He began 
business as a boy in the office of the Boston Saturday Evening 
Gazette, later learned the trade of a tinsmith, and still later 
rose to distinction as a hotel and house furnisher on an 
extensive scale. He was in that line of business for over half 
a century. The family home was long in Boston, then 
briefly in Wheeling, W. Va., and later in Maiden, Mass., 
where Mrs. Sophia died Jan. 5, 1867. 

2. Emeransa Ballon was born Sept. 10, 1821, and died 
unmarried in Maiden, Jan. 12, 1875. 

3. Almando Ballou, the oldest son, was born May 2, 
1823. He married Mahalath Harkness, daughter of Elijah 
and Martha (Bassett) Harkness of Richmond, N. H., born in 
Richmond, N. H. Jan. 23, 1822. They were married Jan. 1, 
1852, and had four children, one born in Boston, the others in 
Richmond. He was engaged in mercantile business in Boston 
from 1863 to 1871, when he moved to Philadelphia where he 
continued in business. His son, De Forest Ballou, Esq., of 
Philadelphia, said of his father: "My father was one of the 
old '49 adventurers who went to California in that year, and 
with his partner was the first to erect a frame building in 



2X2 HISTORY OF KOYALSTON- 

Sacramento City. He also furnished the necessary lumber 
and erected the jirst church, as he calls it, in that city, by 
placing boards and boxes under a large tree, at which divine 
services were first held in Sacremento, before any buildings 
had been erected there." He died Nov. 28, 1910. 

4. Angelia Ballon was born Dec. 16, 1824; married 
Zachariah F. Young Jan. 1, 1850. He was born in Athol,. 
March 10, 1821. They were married in Royalston by Rev. 
Nomian Hazen. They had four children, all bom in Fitch- 
burg, Mass. 

5. Devillo Ballou, born Jan. 17, 1827; married Mary 
Cutler, Nov. 13, 1850. He was a commercial traveler, and 
died in Grant Park, 111., May 30, 1877, leaving a widow and 
two daughters. 

6. Lorenzo Ballou, born Nov. 29, 1828, married first, 
Mary A. Marshall, May 18, 1852. She was born in Boston, 
Dec. 16, 1833. They had three children. She died Sept. 16, 
1861. He married second, Adelia M. Shedd, Feb. 3, 1864. 
She was born in Mason, N. H., May 5, 1835: they had one 
child. The family home was in Winchendon. Mr. Ballou died 
Nov. 6, 1894. 

7. Autantia Ballou, bom June 24, 1830, married George 
N. Goodspeed, Nov. 7, 1850; he was the son of Isaac and 
Lucy Wyman (Nutting) Goodspeed and was born in Hubbard- 
ston, Mass., Nov. 6, 1826. They had four children, all born 
in Winchendon. Mr. Goodspeed and partner were extensive 
manufacturers of tub, pail and chair machinery, etc., in 
Winchendon, under the firm name of Goodspeed & Wyman. 
Mrs. Goodspeed died Oct. 18, 1897. 

8. Clarinda Ballou, bom April 29, 1832, married David E. 
Whitney, May 6, 1857. They went west, settled in Anoka, 
Minn., on a farm, where Mr. Whitney died, leaving Mrs. 
Clarinda a widow with a son and two daughters. 

9. Lorina Ballou, bom Feb. 28, 1834, married Elisha W. 
Harkness, July 1, 1856; he was the son of Elijah and Martha 
(Bassett) Harkness, born in Richmond, Dec. 27, 1826. They 
settled in Hinesburg, Vt., where they had six children born to 
them. 

10. Alphonso A. Ballou, fourth son of Luther and Sophia 
(Davis) Ballou, was born in Royalston, March 9, 1836. He 
married Sara A. Holton, daughter of Elihu and Edee Pres- 



THE BALLOU FAMILY 2l3 

cott (Wright) Holton of Erving, Sept. 4, 1859. She was 
born in Erving, Aug. 12, 1840. They had a daughter, Madge 
Davenport, born May 16, 1870. When a young man he 
resided in Orange, where he was depot master, and enlisted 
in the Civil War in Company F, Fifty-second Mass. Regiment 
of which he was made first lieutenant, his regiment being 
assigned to the Department of the Gulf. On his departure 
for the war he was presented with a fine sword by the citizens 
of Orange. A year or two since he presented the sword to the 
Historical Society of Orange. 

After the war he went to Grafton, Mass., where he was 
cashier of the First National Bank of Grafton for several 
years and held important town offices. About 1884 he went 
to Detroit, Mich., where he was treasurer and assistant 
manager of the Detroit Emery Wheel Co., and at the same 
time was director in one of the city banks for several years. 
After a residence of eighteen years in Detroit, owing to ill- 
health, he gave up business in 1902 and returned to Massa- 
chusetts, settling in Newton Centre. He now resides in 
Brockton, and is the only one of the large family of Luther 
Ballou now living. 

11. Czarina Ballou, born May 15, 1838, married Harrison 
P. Goodspeed, June 9, 1857. He was a son of Isaac and 
Lucy Wyman (Nutting) Goodspeed and was born in Hubbard- 
ston. May 10, 1830. They had no children. Mr. Goodspeed 
was connected with the machinery business of Goodspeed & 
Wyman in Winchendon. Czarina Ballou Goodspeed died July 
13, 1905. 

Waldo Russell Ballou, youngest of the twelve children of 
Luther and Clarissa (Davis) Ballou, was born in Royalston, 
Feb. 13, 1845. When a young man he went to Winchendon, 
Mass., where he learned the machinist's trade with Goodspeed 
& Wyman. Afterwards resided in Maiden and Orange, Mass. 
About 1880 he removed to Stamford, Conn., and entered the 
employ of the Gale & Towne Manufacturing Co., and was the 
superintendent of the lock department for several years. 
Was a member of the city government of Stamford for a 
number of years. He married, first, Sarah Scott Hathaway, 
Nov. 25, 1873. She died Dec. 29, 1883. They had two 
children: Harrison Hathaway, married and resides in Mam- 



214- HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

aroneck, N. Y.; Jeannette Morandi, married Roy L. Whitney, 
M.D., resides in Waverley, Mass. 

He married, second, Ella Jones. She died April 2, 1910, 
leaving no children. He died in Stamford, Conn., June 24, 
1914. 

Royalston people of the middle of the last century were 
familiar with Nancy Whipple, a descendant of the Ballou 
family, whose home was not far from Forbes Falls. She was 
a remarkable woman and was known far and wide as old 
Nance Whipple, the fortune teller. Rev. Albert Bryant, the 
poet of Royalston's Centennial, thus describes her: 

"Ho, time is a Goblin, and aw^ful the dance 
Whose mazes return not, but always advance, 

Through which his gay partners he gleefully whirls. 
And to bald, shriveled crones turns the fairest of girls." 
So laughed the strange teller of fortunes. Old Nance. 

She dwelt in a valley far over the hills, 
Her two eyes were piercing, her accents were shrill. 
Through her town and our town wandered her fame, 
Till the sage and the simple, and all ages came 
To learn of the future: five dimes was the bill. 

One day in December the schoolmaster sat 
By her wide chimney corner spellbound by her chat, 
As she told how a widow with plenty of gold. 
With houses, and acres, and beauties untold. 
Would be his for the asking — with never a brat. 

Now fleeter and fleeter the swift moments flew. 
The chimney was wide, and fierce the wind blew. 
The smoke and the ashes drew out and drew in, 
And the schoolmaster fancied the dame was so thin, 
That he saw, for a moment, the firelight shine through. 

The master was eager, the dame's tongue was brisk, 
His fortune grew larger — and lesser the risk. 

Till his locks rose upright and he screamed to behold 
Old Nancy together like burnt paper rolled, 
And up the vast flue disappear with a whisk. 



THE BALLOU FAMILY 215 

By the chimney still stands an empty arm chair, 
To attest that my story is truthful and fair; 

What became of the master I never have known, 
And, for aught I can tell the merry old crone 
Is completing his fortunes up in the air. 



THE SHEPARDSON FAMILY 

Among the old Royalston families that of the Shepardsons 
has a most remarkable record in the educational and minis- 
terial world, many of the sons and daughters of this family 
having become noted teachers, ministers and professors; 
and it is one of the very few of the older Royalston families 
where the old ancestral homestead is now owned and occupied 
by one bearing the old family name. 

This family traces its American ancestry back to some time 
in the year 1628-9, when one Daniel Shepardson landed at 
Salem, Mass., being one of a numerous company who sought 
homes in America at that period of English history. A 
tradition indicates that this Daniel was accompanied by his 
brother John, who was very soon killed in a dispute by a 
spade thrown at him by an adversary. 

The location of "Old Naumkeag" did not suit some of 
the immigrants, who moved to Charlestown, where Daniel 
Shepardson is recorded as a citizen in 1632. He was not one 
of the wealthy members of the Puritan body, but was a 
craftsman — a blacksmith by trade. He removed to Maiden, 
where he died July 26, 1644, leaving a son Daniel and two 
daughters. 

2. Daniel Shepardson, son of (Daniel) succeeded his 
father as blacksmith at Maiden. He was baptized June 14, 
1641. He married April 11, 1668, Elizabeth, daughter of 
Thomas Call, Sr., and widow of Mr. Samuel Tingley of 
Maiden. Toward the end of his life he moved to Attleboro, 
Mass., where he was known as "old goodman Daniel Shepard- 
son." He had three sons and three daughters. 

3. Nathaniel Shepardson, youngest son of (DanieP) was 
born Oct. 28, 1680. He may have moved from Attleboro to 
Rehoboth, Mass., where two of his children were baptized, 



226 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

although all are recorded as born in Attleboro. He had three 
sons and two daughters. 

4. Jonathan Shepardson, oldest son of (Nathaniel), was 
born Sept. 20, 1706. He lived in Attleboro, Mass., and may- 
have spent some time in Cumberland, R. I., before settling in 
Templeton, Mass. He married Abigail Fuller, May 9, 1730. 
They had six children. He died in Templeton in 1790. 

5. Jonathan Shepardson, son of (Jonathan^), was born 
in Attleboro, in January, 1734-5. He married Miriam, 
daughter of Isaac and Sarah (Carpenter) Follett. In 1768 
the family moved to Templeton, Mass., and in 1790 to 
Royalston, being the first members of the Shepardson family 
to make this town their home. They both died the same day, 
Dec. 3, 1804. 

He settled on the farm long known as the Tandy farm 
now owned by W. D. Graves. He had ten children, all of 
whom were married previous to the removal to Royalston. 
He left his place to his son John. Another son Isaac, settled 
on a farm nearly opposite the place known as the Bemis place. 

6. Daniel Shepardson, son of (Jonathan'^) settled on the 
place now owned and occupied by his grandson, Luke B. 
Shepardson, this place having been owned by the Shepard- 
son family more than a hundred years. He was born Oct. 6, 
1775. He was a farmer, and married Sept. 9, 1801 Prudence, 
daughter of David and Elizabeth Cook. She died June 24, 
1858, aged seventy-eight, and he died May 5, 1856, aged 
eighty. They had ten children: Jonathan, born Nov. 23, 
1802; Pruda, born Aug. 12, 1804, married William Moore of 
Montague, Feb. 6, 1826, died June 26, 1877; Lity, born April 
19, 1806, died June 5, 1820; Eliza, born April 4, 1808, married 
Charles Moore, March 9, 1829; David Cook, born May 31, 
1810, died Sept. 7, 1813; Millie, born March 25, 1812, married 
George Moore of Athol, and died 1893; Daniel, born July 27, 
1813; David Cook, born October, 1815; John, born April 12, 
1820; Eri, born Sept. 10, 1821. 

Jonathan Shepardson, oldest child of Daniel and Prudence 
Shepardson, was born in Royalston, Nov. 23, 1802. He was 
well educated for a man of his time, and spent a number of 
years of his early manhood teaching school, at which he 
had marked success, and especially with schools which were 
hard to discipline. After he was married he made his home 



THE SHEPARDSON EAMILY 2l7 

3it the foot of Doane hill on the place now owned and oc- 
•cupied by Stephen Frye. He went into the lumljer business, 
■sawing board from logs with the old-fashioned, up and down 
saw. After the death of his wife he made his home with his 
■daughter until Jan. 18, 1875, when he passed away at the age 
■of 72 years and 2 months. He left liehind him a record of 
a true, earnest, upright, Christian man, loved and respected by 
all who knew him. He married Nancy Jaseph of Warwick, 
March 29, 1825, and to them were born seven sons and one 
daughter: Quincy Adams, born Feb. 14, 1826; Lucius Frank- 
lin, korn Dec. 24, 1828; Joseph Henry, born Dec. 31, 1831; 
Jonathan, bom Oct. 11, 1835, and died Oct. 12, 1837; Mary 
■Caroline, bom June 3, 1837, she married Luke Emel Bemis, 
March 22, 1857, and died Jan. 30, 1906. 

Lucius FrmMin ^hepardson, second son of Jonathan and 
Nancy (Jaseph) Shepardson was born Dec. 24, 1828. His 
education was received in the common schools of Royalston, 
at Shelburne Falls Academy, and Waterville College, now Colby 
University, Maine. 

He married Maria L. Gage of Phillipston, Mass., in 1858; 
she died in October, 1877. They had one son, Frank L. 
Shepardson. He married, second, Miss Fannie Knight at 
Greenfield, Mass., Oct. 12, 1885; there were no children by 
his second wife. He was ordained pastor of the Baptist 
Church of Princeton, Me., in 1860, and was a Baptist minister 
for forty-four years. He died in East AVestmoreland, N. H., 
Feb. 5, 1908. 

About 1863 he went to Stamford, Vt. The churches of 
which he was pastor were: Warwick, Mass., 1864-1867; 
Three Rivers, Mass., 1867-1874; Rehoboth, Mass., 1874-1878; 
South Newfane, Vt., 1880-1882; West Wardsboro, Vt., 1884- 
1886; Passumpsic, Vt., 1887-1889; Norton, Mass., 1889-1893; 
Chesham, N. H., 1893-1897; East Westmoreland, N. H., 1897- 
1S04. Lucius Franklin Shepardson died at East Westmore- 
land, N. H., Feb. 5, 1908. His widow lives in Troy, N. H. 

Frank Lucius Shepardson, son of Lucius Franklin and 
Maria (Gage) Shepardson, was born at Princeton, Me., April 
10, 1861. His preliminary education was received at the High 
School in Providence, R. L ; was graduated from Brown University 
in 1883. Taught in private school, Cumberland, Md., 1883- 
84, on faculty of Worcester Academy, Worcester, Mass., 



218 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

1884-96, acting principal of Worcester Academy 1894-95, and 
principal of Colgate Academy, Hamilton, N. Y., 1896-1912. 
Since 1912 has been Treasurer of Colgate University and 
Associate Professor of Greek in the same institution. Traveled 
in Europe in the summers of 1887-1900 and 1912. Married 
in June, 1888 at Worcester to Miss Sarah Wliidden, daughter 
of Charles R. Whidden of Calais, Me. They have two 
children. Joseph Hennj Shepardson, third son of Jonathan and 
Nancy (Jaseph) Shepardson, was born in West Royalston, 
Dec. 31, 1831. His education was received at Shelburne Falls 
Academy and Waterville College, now Colby University, Maine. 
After graduating he taught school in Rahway, N. J. and then 
attended a theological seminary in Northern Vermont, where 
he pursued his studies. His first preaching was in the home 
church at West Royalston, and at Royalston Centre. He 
then supplied the Baptist Church at Cold Brook Springs 
(Barre), where he found his wife Martha Henry, whom he 
married in Warwick, Mass., Oct. 17, 1865. He then went to 
Princeton, Me., where he was ordained Dec. 3, 1865, and was 
pastor of a Baptist Church for a year. His wife died April 
24, 1869, in her 31st year. 

Soon after, at the solicitation of Rev. Amory Gale, who 
was State Missionary of the State of Minnesota for the 
Baptist denomination, he w^ent to Minnesota where he be- 
came one of the Baptist missionaries, having charge of one or 
two counties. He located his home on a government home- 
stead in what was then knomi as Pleasant Valley. People 
came in rapidly from European nations, and a town was 
organized called Becker, of which Mr. Shepardson was made 
clerk, which office he held for thirty-eight years. He w^as also 
elected judge, which office he held for twenty-five years, 
when he resigned. He was for fifteen yeare pastor of the 
Baptist church of the town. He was married, second, to 
Ellen Rand, a school-teacher from Alton, Me., March 4, 
1870. She died April 2, 1908. 

He exchanged his farm for village property, and has re- 
signed all business to rest the remainder of his life. He is 
now (1915) in his 84th year, and as he says in a letter, 

"young as a chicken just hatched." 

Daniel Shepardson, third son of Daniel and Prudence 

Cook Shepardson, was born in Royalston, July 27, 1813. He 




REV. DANIEL SHEPARDSON 



THE SHEPARDSON FAMILY 219 

was the first of the family to attend college, spending two 
years at Amherst College and two years at Brown University. 
Was member of Alpha Delta Phi. Did not graduate, but 
received honorary degree of Master of Arts from Granville 
College (now Denison University) in 1846, and same degree 
from Brown University in 1853, also the honorary degree of 
Doctor of Divinity from the University of Lewisburg (now 
Bucknell University) in 1872. Moved to Ohio in 1841, 
traveling by stage to Albany, thence by packet boat on the 
Erie Canal thirteen days and nights to Buffalo, thence six 
more days by lake and Ohio Canal to Newark, Licking 
County. Was a Baptist minister in Zanesville, Cincinnati, 
Cheviot and Piqua; principal of Woodward High School, 
Cincinnati, 1855-1862, and for sixteen years a member of 
Board of Examiners and Inspectors of Schools in that city; 
principal of the Young Ladies' Institute, Granville, Ohio, 
1868-1887, and founder of Shepardson College, the women's 
department of Denison LTniversity. Member of Board of 
Trustees of Denison University, 1843-1860 and 1880-1889. 
He died in Granville, Ohio, Dec. 9, 1899. He married Feb. 
13, 1841, in Sandisfield, Mass., Harriet S. Wilcox, who died 
in Newark, Ohio, August, 1841; married, second, Dec. 1, 
1842, Harriet Bestor Beard of Zanesville, Ohio, who died in 
Cincinnati, June 9, 1853; married, third, June 18, 1854, Eliza 
Ann, daughter of James Rogers and Hannah (Mulloy) 
Smart, who was born March 21, 1835, in Orange, Meigs 
County, Ohio. 

He had twelve children of whom four died in infancy, 
the others were: Harriet Julia Shepardson, born April 29, 
1852; married Feb. 1, 1876, James Murdock of Oneida, 111.; 
she died March 9, 1879. Two children. 

Mary Ella Shepardson, born May 3, 1856; married Oct. 28, 
1882, Hiram Sterling Pomeroy of Sommers, Conn. He was 
a physician and resided in Boston. They had six children. 
Mrs. Pcnieroy was the author of "Love's Crucible," a striking 
novel of much spiritual power. She died suddenly of heart 
failure at her heme in Boston, before the book had come from 
the press. 

Eliza Davis Shepardson, born Oct. 26, 1858, married Oct. 
26, 1881, Charles Allen Marsh of Chicago, 111.; she died April 
22, 1889. They had four children. 



220 HISTORY OF ROVALSTON" 

Johannah Shepardson, born Jan. 3, 1860, married Dec. 12. 
1883, Francis Wilthorne of Granville, Ohio. They reside in 
Norfolk, Va., and have five children. 

Francis Wayland Shepardson, l^orn Oct, 15, 1862, was gradu- 
ated at Denison Univei-sity in 1882, married Sept. 3, 1884,. 
Cora Lenore Whitcomb of Chnton, Ind. ; Professor of American 
History in the University of Chicago; has one son. 

George Defrees Shepardson, born Nov. 20, 1864, was graduated 
at Denison University in 1885; married Aug. 31, 1892, Harriet 
King of King's Mills, Ohio; instructor in Cornell University 
in 1890-1; traveled in Europe in 1880 and 1905; Professor of 
Electrical Engineering in Univei-sity of IVIinnesota since 1891 ; 
has one daughter. 

Daniel Shepardson,. bom Dec. 1, 1868; he was graduated from 
Denison University, and before he was twenty-two years of 
age won the degree of PhD. at Yale. After travel in Europe, 
a theological course of study and several years' teaching of 
Hebrew, Arabic and Enghsh Bible in the American Institute 
of Sacred Literature, he entered the gospel ministry. He had 
been preaching only a few months when he suffered paralysis 
of his limbs, but he continued his work of preaching and 
teaching from one end of the United States to the other, and 
became known as the "Wheel-Chair Evangehst." He was 
regarded as one of the foremost Bible expositors of the day, 
and ranked with the most popular speakers at the Northfield 
summer conferences founded by Dwight L. Moody; he 
man-ied Aug. 27, 1895, Mary Belle Smith of Newark, Ohio; he 
died Nov. 25, 1905, in Honolulu, H. I. 

John Ernest Shepardson, born Oct. 26, 1877, was graduated 
at Denison University, and is now Instructor in Electrical 
Engineering at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; 
he is married and has one daughter and a son. 

The four sons of Daniel Shepardson who grew up grad- 
uated from Denison University, Granville, Ohio; and of these, 
Daniel and Francis received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 
from Yale University, and George the same degree from Harvard 
University. 

David Cook Shepardson, fourth son of Daniel and Prudence 
(Cook) Shepardson, was born Oct. 2, 1815. He married 
Emily Grout of Warwick, Oct. 26, 1835, and lived the most 
of his life after he was grown up in Warwick, Mass., where he 




REV. JOHN SHEPARDSON 



ERI SHEPARDSON 



THE SHEPARDSON FAMILY 221 

was a farmer and also owned a sawmill and was engaged 
in the lumber business more or less. He had six children, 
four boys and two girls, all of whom are dead with the excep- 
tion of one son, Andrew Shepardson, who lives in Warwick. 

Rev. John Shepardson, fifth son of Daniel*^ and Prudence 
Shepardson, was born in Royalston, April 12, 1820. He was 
baptized at West Royalston by Rev. Thomas Marshall in 
1831, ordained as a Baptist minister at New Salem and 
Prescott in June, 1842, served that church as pastor from 
1842 to 1849, the church at Petersham, 1849 to 1872, Wales, 
1872 to 1876, Greenfield, 1876 to 1878, supphed at Norton, 
1887 to 1889, and died at Taunton, Dec. 14, 1889. 

Of his early days he wrote as follows: "My parents were 
of the Puritanic type fully believing that Sunday was the 
Lord's Day, and that it was their duty to worship God in his 
sanctuary on that day, and although being five miles from 
church, all must go. As their family was large, consisting of 
six sons and four daughters, some must necessarily walk, but 
none were excused from going." 

He commenced to teach when 13 years old, his first school 
consisting of 40 scholars, several of whom were over 21 years 
of age, yet he held it under strict discipline, and carried it 
through with marked success. The pay was $14 a month, 
and board round. As teacher his work was important, and 
continued at intervals for 38 years. He managed the Oread 
Institute at Worcester, from 1864 to 1866 and saved it from 
threatened collapse; founded the Highland Institute in Peter- 
sham, a school of high grade, which he managed in addition 
to his church work from 1866 to 1872. As a preacher he had 
unusual gifts; as a pastor he was assiduous in labor, wise in 
counsel, tender and sympathetic in feeUng, and all his pastorates 
were eminently successful. 

He was married in June, 1842 to Miss Maria A. Chamber- 
lain of New Salem, the wedding taking place on the morning 
of his ordination. She was a most estimable lady, who, to the 
highest qualities of the wife and the mother, added rare tact 
and ability as a helper in pastoral work. They had two 
children: Adehza F., born Aug. 16, 1844 and Ella S., born 
June 29, 1847. The former married Willard T. Leonard, A. M., 
March 18, 1863. They have three children: Florence E., 
Annie M. (Mrs Ernest Baldwin) and Mabel L. 



222 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Ella S. Shepardso7i married Rev. Francis E. Tower of 
Petersham, Nov. 30, 1868. They have three children: Ralph 
W., Maude H. (Mrs. J. H. Peck) and Ethel E. Mr. Tower 
is pastor of a Baptist church in Albany, N. Y. Mrs. John 
Shepardson died Aug. 4, 1873, and he was married, second, 
Aug. 18, 1874. 

Eri Shepardson, youngest child of Daniel and Prudence 
(Cook) Shepardson, was born in Royalston, Sept. 10, 1821. 
He remained on the old homestead and was engaged in farm- 
ing and lumbering. He was a prominent member of the 
Baptist church at West Royalston, and was trustee of the 
Bullock fund for that church. He was treasurer of Star 
Lodge of Masons of Athol for twenty-five years in succession. 
He married Elvira S. Bemis, Jan. 5, 1843. They had six 
children: John, Daniel, Edmund C, Susan Steele, Luke B. 
and Delia M. 

John, born Dec. 27, 1843, enlisted in the Civil War in 
the Thirty-sixth Mass. Regiment, and was killed in action June 
17, 1864. 

Daniel Shepardson, son of Eri and Elvira (Bemis) Shepard- 
son, was born Oct. 29, 1844. His education was received in 
the Royalston schools and at Highland Institute, Petersham, 
and Worcester Academy, Worcester, Mass. He did not 
graduate from either of these institutions, but chd graduate 
from Newton Theological Institute. He preached for seven 
years in Hancock, Mass., and then for a number of years in 
towns in New York State. He married Emma Wylie of 
Hancock, Mass., in June, 1876, and died in that town Dec. 
17, 1908. 

Edmund C. Shepardson, third son of Eri and Elvira 
(Bemis) Shepardson, was born at Royalston, Dec. 2, 1847. 
His education was received at the district school in Royalston. 
He was named Cincinattus, but not liking that name, Feb. 1, 
1870, he had his name changed to Edmund C. Shepardson. 
When twenty-one years of age he went to Orange to work in 
the New Home Sewing Machine shops. He went to Athol in 
1882, and went to work in the machine shop of C. F. Rich- 
ardson, where L. S. Starrett was then having his tools made, 
and when Mr. Starrett opened a shop of his own Mr. Shepard- 
son went with him, and was employed there until his death. 
For many years he was superintendent of the plant, but 



THE SHEPARDSON FAMILY 223 

during the later years of his Hfe was an inspector. He was 
actively interested in politics and was for a number of years 
chairman of the Republican town committee. He served with 
credit in the Massachusetts Legislature for the years of 1902 
and 1903. He was a prominent member of the Masonic 
fraternity, being a member of Star Lodge, Union Royal Arch 
Chapter and Athol Commandery, Knights Templar, of which 
he was Eminent Commander, and was Master of Star Lodge. 
He was also a member of the Odd Fellows, serving as Noble 
Grand of Tully Lodge, and was a charter member of Banner 
Rebekah Lodge. He was married Jan. 3, 1874 to Emma 
Louise Turner, daughter of John and Elmira (Emery) Turner 
of Orange. He died Oct. 30, 1910 and was buried in Orange 

Susan Steele Shepardson, oldest daughter of Eri and Elvira 
Shepardson, was born Nov. 15, 1849. She was a well-known 
school-teacher for several years, and married Luther E. 
Stewart April 10, 1878, by whom she had three children. Mr. 
Stewart died in September, 1914, and Mrs. Stewart resides in 
Royalston. 

Luke B. Shepardson, youngest son of Eri and Elvira 
Shepardson, was born Sept. 9, 1851, of whom a sketch appears 
in the chapter on Town Government. 

Delia M. Shepa)-dson, youngest child of Eri and Elvira 
Shepardson, was born July 3, 1853. She married A. B. Wood 
in Royalston, Nov. 6, 1872, by whom she had three children, 
one having been born in Royalston and two in Putney, Vt. 
She was married, second, in Royalston, July 2, 1891, to George 
W. Smith, by whom she had one child, born in East Long- 
meadow. 



THE NICHOLS FAMILY ^ 

The Royalston Memorial says, "Henry, Isaac and William 
Nichols from Sutton, had early settlements in town." Henry, 
who was known as "Landlord Nichols," took up the farm 
formerly known as the C. H. Maxam farm and later owned 
by Deacon Henry Wood, where he kept a public house. Hav- 
ing lost his wife in 1781, he married Aug. 8, 1782, Mrs. 
Mehitable Gale, widow of Isaac Gale, and subsequently 
settling his son Henry on the home place, removed to the 



224 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

"Mill lot" £nd carried on the mills, near the "falls." He 
settled his son Elijah on this place. 

Elijah Nichols was born July 2o, 1770, at Oxford. He 
built a house north of the falls at the corner of the roads, 
and afterwards built upon the Common north of the Lee 
place, where he died in 1856 at the age of 83 years. He 
married Mrs. Asenath Fairbanks of Royalston, Oct. 16, 1827. 
Their children were: John Hubbard Church and Joseph 
Town. John H. C. Nichols was born Aug. 22, 1828, and was 
killed by lightning when he was sixteen years old. 

Joseph Towne Nichols, son of Elijah and Asenath (Fair- 
banks) Nichols, was born in Royalston, Feb. 8, 1832. He 
married April 7, 1858, Martha G. Turner, daughter of 
Leonard and Mary P. Turner of Phillipston. They were married 
by Rev. E. W. Bullard in the Nichols homestead on Royal- 
ston Common, now the home of Dr. Frank W. Adams, and 
directly across the street from the residence which was the 
home of Mr. and Mrs. Nichols until his death. 

In 1908 they celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary, 
and this occasion was one of the most enjoyable social events 
in the history of Royalston. In 1861 Mr. Nichols enlisted in 
Co. I, 25th Mass. Regiment Volunteers, where he served 
three years; he was then transferred to Co. A, 55th Infantry. 
At the close of the war, he was a first lieutenant and had a 
fine record as a brave soldier, serving his country with 
exemplary fidelity and great coursge. After the war, he 
learned the undertaking business in Fitchburg, and was the 
Royalston undertaker until he retired from active business a 
few years ago. During his residence in Royalston, he has 
filled every town office. He was Chairman of the Selectmen 
for nine years (during which time the town enjoyed a low 
tax rate and great prosperity); he filled every office with 
ability and good judgment. 

Mr. and Mrs. Nichols had five children, one of whom, 
Jessie Wilder Nichols, died while her father was at the front 
serving his country, and the other four are now living. 
Leonard is Shipping Commissioner for the Port of Providence, 
R. I., and Frederic C, Treasurer of the Fitchburg Savings 
Bank. Sketches of them appear in another chapter. Mary 
Louise is wife of S. Weston Wheeler of New York, and they 




MR. AND MRS. JOSEPH T. NICHOLS 



THE 3^ICHOLS FATVIILT 225 

Slave two children, Sidney W. and Ruth; Agnes is wife of 
'Cornelius Quinlan of Athol; they liave one daughter, Marjorie. 

Isaac -Nichols, one of tlie first settlers, settled south of his 
lirother Henry on the place long known as the Francis Chase 
place. He organized with the Congregational Church in 1766) 
■was chosen deacon in 1781; and removed to Croydon, N. H,) 
-about 1790. His son Isaac is one of those who are claimed 
as the jirsl-horn of Royalston, The names of nine children of 
Isaac and Dorcas Nichols appear on the records, of whom 
six give the dates of baptism only. Ammi Nichols, son of 
Deacon Isaa-c Nichols wa« bom in Royalston, Aug. 10, 178L 
Although he was graduated at no college he obtained a good 
•education, passed through a regular course of theological 
study under the instmction of Rev. Asa Burton, D.D., of 
Thetford, Vt., and was in the ministry for more than sixty 
years. He was one of the vice-presidents at the Centennial 
•celebration. The Deacon Nichols' place, after his removal from 
town was owned a few years by David, son of '* Landlord Nichols," 
and was then sold to Abraham Eddy. 

Willmm Nichols, the third of the first Nichols settlers, 
bought the place settled by Bezaleal Barton, and carried on 
both the farm and the mill on the Lawrence, west of his 
home. He went by the name of *' Miller Nichols." When 
customers needed him at the mill they rang a bell suspended 
upon the premises, the signal for "Miller Nichols" to leave 
his farm duties, and attend to the callers under the hill. 



THE ESTABROOKS 

One of the most prominent families of Royalston for 
nearly three-quarters of a century was the Estabrook family. 

Joseph Estabrook, the first of the family connected with 
Royalston history was born in Holden, Mass., Aug. 1, 1770. 
He probably came to Royalston in the closing years of the 
eighteenth century and was for many years a prominent 
merchant and dealer in cattle. He was Royalston's first post- 
master, was Town Clerk in 1804, '05, '08, '09 and 1810, Selec- 
man seven years, between 1803 and 1816, and Representative 
to the General Court for eight years, between 1809 and 1825, 
and State Senator in 1828. In his later years he became a 



226 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

noted grazier and cattle dealer, having hundreds of oxen and 
other cattle feeding in the pastures of Royalston and sur- 
rounding towns. One of his pastures in the west part of the 
town was sold for $3600, and it was said that the herd's 
grass was so high in this pasture that you could not see the 
oxen feeding there. It was said that at one time Joseph 
Estabrook of Royalston and Samuel Sweetzer of Athol con- 
trolled the Brighton market. 

Governor Bullock in his Centennial Address described him 
as "Esquire Joseph Estabrook, our first postmaster, our first 
gentleman, our first Senator, to my perceptions blending the 
old and new school of manners, who Ijegan as a trader and 
adopted in later years the pleasant vocation of a grazier, 
having, a genius for noble cattle as quick and intuitive as 
Daniel Webster ever possessed, whose blood, whether remain- 
ing here or transfused in honorable connections in other 
places, honors the parent stock." He died 1829. 

He was married three times. First to Polly Holman of 
Sterling, May 3, 1801, second to Ruth Greenwood, June 17, 
1810 and third to Mrs. Hannah Reed, Oct. -28, 1818. His 
children were: Mary, born 1807, Joseph, born April 16, 1811 
and Maria, born April 29, 1813. Ruth, his second wife, died 
Sept. 16, 1814 in her 38th year. 

Joseph Estabrook, son of Joseph and Ruth (Greenwood) 
Estabrook, born April 16, 1811, was also a merchant in 
Royalston and manufactured palm leaf hats. He went to 
Worcester, where he was in mercantile business for a Avhile 
with George C. Richardson, after which he returned to 
Royalston, which was his home until his death in 1882. He 
was Town Treasurer in 1840, Assessor in 1840 and 1841 and 
Representative to the General Court in 1857. He married 
Harriet M. Mirick of Princeton, Mass., Feb. 24, 1840. 

They had four children all born in Royalston: Harriet, 
born in 1842 and died in 1860; Joseph P., born in 1846, married 
Harriet E. Hej^wood, September, 1880, and is now living in 
Cambridge; Maria C, born 1848 and died in 1863; and Elizabeth 
C, born in 1867, and now living in Arlington, Mass. 

Mary H. Estabrook, daughter of Hon. Joseph and Polly 
(Holman) Estabrook, was born in Royalston in 1807. She 
married Hon. Isaac Davis of Worcester in 1829. He was one 
of the most distinguished members of the Worcester County 



V 

/ ■' '^' r., ' . ■ 

'■' y "s' ■* 

THE ESTABROOK'JFASrXLY • 227 

'■■'j '/" > 

Bar, was twice elected to the State S:enate, was a member of 
the Governor's Council, three times'^ Mayor of Worcester, 
three times the Democratic candidate for Governor of Massa- 
chusetts, and was offered by President Pierce the position of 
Assistant Treasurer of the United States. They had ten 
children, four sons and six daughters. One of the sons, 
Edward Livingston Davis, was Mayor of Worcester in 1874. 
Mrs. Davis died in 1875 and Isaac Davis in 1883. 
•., Maria Estabrook, daughter of Hon. Joseph and Ruth 
(Greenwood) Estalnook, born in Royalston, April 29, 1813, 
married Edwin Conant, a prominent citizen of Worcester, 
in October, 1833. They had two daughters. 



THE GALE FAMILY 

Richard Gale, the ancestor of the Gale family in the United 
States, first appears, as the purchaser of a homestead of six 
acres in W^atertown, Mass., in 1640, it being part of a lot of 
nine acres in the town plot granted to Elder Richard Browne. 

In describing the characteristics of the family, the "Gale 
Family Records" say: ''as a race, the Gales have been more 
distinguished for their athletic powers than for the culture 
of their minds, but the late generations are fast changing in 
this particular, and the learned professions have a fair propor- 
tion of the present generation. They have ever been reason- 
ably jealous of their rights, but strong friends to a well-ordered 
government; and in our Revolutionary struggle, they were a 
unit in taking up arms and marching to the fields of strife, from 
which several of them never returned alive. They were nearly 
as unanimous in the support of the war of 1812." 

Captain Isaac Gale of Sutton of the fourth generation 
from Richard Gale, the first settler, married about 1731, 
Judith Sawyer of Framingham, to which place he removed, 
where his first child, Isaac, was born in 1732, and the follow- 
ing year he removed to that part of Sutton afterwards set 
into a new town called Millbury, where he spent a long and 
useful life and died about October, 1793. The muster rolls 
of the old "French and Indian War," shows that as lieuten- 
ant he made a campaign in August, 1757, for the relief of 
Fort William Henry, but when they reached Sheffield, the 



228 HISTORY OF ROTALSTON" 

news reached them of the surrender of that fort on the' 9th\ 
of August, when they were ordered back. Lieut. Isaac Gale- 
held his post in the military company of Sutton, mitil March 
1,1763, when he was appointed by the Governor of Massa- 
chusetts,, captain of the same company, which office he held 
with honor until he i-esigned in September, 1769, In those 
days of French wars and Indian i-aids the cai^tain of the: 
miU'tia was regarded as the most important office in town. 

He gave his sword to his son Isaac, with instructions, a» 
tmdition says, to have it preserved by his descendants of 
that name; and in 1864 it was in the hands of Isaac Gale of 
Royalston, who pi-esented it to Galesville University, Wis., 
for preservation as a family relic; his son,. Isaac, who wouldl 
have been entitled to the sword having died in 1854. 

Imac Gale Jr., son of Capt. Isaac Gale of Sutton was. 

born ; he married Mehitable Dwinel,. or Duvel,. 

of Sutton. He removed to Royalston about L770 and 
settled near Doane's Falls,. having a grist and 
sawmill on the site of what was formerly the Sullivan 
Raymond sawmill and pail shop. He was the ancestor of 
the numerous Gale families of Royalston. 

He served as a sergeant in the campaign of 1776 in the 
Northern Army at Ticonderoga under Col. Samuel Brewer. 
He was called a "Miller" and was the owner, when he died 
intestate of a saw and gi-ist mill in Royalston and a farm of 
nearly 200 acres. The return of the appraisers on his estate 
dated Aug. 28, 1779, valued the whole estate at ^11, 662, 13s. 
4d., Peter, the oldest son, receiving according to the law 
then in force a double share and the widow one-third of the 
whole. Owing to the disturbed condition of the cuiTency at 
that time "hard money" value was placed at ^2, 709,29s. 12d. 

He left a large family, of whom Isaac Gale, a son, was a 
prominent citizen of Royalston until his death Jan. 12, 1826, 
Jonathan Gale, another son, married May 11, 1776, Rhoda 
Baker for his first wife and Susanna Matthews for his second. 
He entered the 3d Regiment as a volunteer from Royalston 
in Revolutionary service, and received from the town a bounty 
of S50. His son, Isaac Gale 2d, was born Feb. 23, 1787, 
married Tamar Goddard and served in the war of 1812, as 
Sergeant and Clerk of the Company with headquarters at 
Boston. They had ten children, of whom Samuel C. Gale, 




HARLOW A. GALE 

SAMUEL C. GALE 



THE GALE FAMILY 229 

Rev. Amory Gale and Harlow A. Gale removed in early life 
to Minneapolis, where they were prominent factors in the 
business, political and religious life of that city and the State 
of Minnesota. 

Samuel Chester Gale, son of Isaac and Tamar (Goddard) 
Gale was born at Royalston, Sept. 15, 1827. His father died, 
when Samuel was eleven years of age, leaving a family of ten 
children, and the young boy was apprenticed to an uncle 
(Salmon Goddard) of West Royalston as a tanner. His 
desire for an education was so keen, however, that at 17 
he began to prepare for college. He entered New Salem 
Academy as a student in 1845, and in an address delivered 
before the Alumni of New Salem Academy in 1885 he refers 
to that event as follows: "Just forty years ago a boy of 
seventeen, came out for the first tim3 from the hills of Royal- 
ston — peace and honor attend that ancient town — I came a 
student to New Salem Academy. What a memorable under- 
taking that was. The sun never broke upon such a day 
before. I made the journey on foot behind a neighbor's 
wagon wherein was stored my box of valuables. The 
procession was not an imposing one, but in my imagination 
that wagon, that box and I. on that momentous errand, was 
the King and his retinue with chariot and banners." After a 
hard struggle he was able to enter Yale College in 1850, 
graduating four years later, a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, 
and chosen class orator at graduation in a class of 100 mem- 
bers. He spent one year in Harvard Law School and then 
read law with a firm in Worcester. In 1857 he went to 
Minneapolis, where he continued his law studies in the office 
of Cornell & Vanderburgh, and was admitted to practice 
in 1858. The practice of law not being in much demand 
there in those days, he opened a real estate and loan office 
in 1860 in partnership with his brother, Harlow; this rapidly 
grew into a most prosperous business, adding much to the 
development of the growing young city. He has been an 
active participant all his life in almost every movement 
looking toward the improvement of the city materially, 
intellectually and morally. 

He was for some time the president of the Minneapolis 
Anthenseum which was founded in 1860; he was one of the 
original promoters of the public library, and long a member 



230 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

of the board; he was on the Board of Education from 1871 
to 1880. He was an alderman and president of the City 
Council at one time and president of the Minneapolis Exposi- 
tion. Was also actively connected with the Academy of 
Natural Sciences, the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, the 
Board of Trade, and virtually every organized effort toward 
the improvement and up-building of the city in its earlier 
days. Keligiously, he has been identified with the Unitarian 
Church, and was the chief contributor in the cost of the 
church edifice. He was married in 1861, to Miss Susan A. 
Damon, daughter of Col. Samuel Damon of Holden, Mass. 
She was born in Holden, May 7, 1833. Mr. and Mrs. Gale 
presented in 1887 to the town of Holden, the Damon Memo- 
rial Library and public school building; the cost of the gift 
exceeded $45,000, and in addition to the building Mr. Gale 
added $3000 for books. He also gave about the same time 
the Baptist parsonage and grounds in the west part of 
Royalston. The children of Samuel C. and Susan (Damon) Gale 
are Edward C. and Charles S., Mrs. David P. Jones, Mrs. 
Clarkson Lindley and Miss Marion Gale, all of Minneapolis. 

Rev. Amory Gale, second son of Isaac and Tamar 
(Goddard) Gale, was born in the west part of Royalston, 
Aug. 21, 1815. His early days were spent in work on the 
farm, where under the benign influences of the Christian 
home, guided and molded by the sweet, cheerful spirit of a 
pious mother, he laid the foundation for the development of 
a grand physical, moral and intellectual manhood. At the 
age of sixteen he was converted, and at nineteen he was 
batpized into the membership of the First Baptist Church of 
Worcester, Mass. It was while he was working on the farm 
that he was led to the conviction that it was his life work to 
preach the gospel among the heathen. He was graduated 
from Worcester Academy in 1839, from Brown University in 
1843 and Newton Theological Seminary in 1846. Except a 
little help from friends and the Educational Society, he 
sustained himself through the whole course by teaching and 
preaching. His first sermon was preached in Worcester, in 
August 1837. During his last year at Newton he averaged 
three sermons a week. While at Brown, a part of the time 
he walked forty miles to Worcester, then went to Royalston 
to preach, and as the fruit of his labor, a great revival 



THK GALE FAMILY , 231 

followed. His first settlement after he graduated .was at 
Ware, Mass., where he was ordained Nov. 11, 1846. He 
was married Feb. 10, 1847, to Miss Caroline E. Goddard. 

The first ten years of his ministry were spent in Ware 
and Lee, Mass. Two churches and houses of worship testified 
to the efficiency of his work there. In the spring of 1857, he 
was appointed V^y the Home Missionary Society to visit 
Hudson, Wis. In June of the same year he accepted a call 
to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis, 
Minn., and remained its pastor for one year. During this 
year a house of worship was erected and additions were 
made to the church and society. 

In August, 1859, Mr. Gale organized the Minnesota 
Baptist State Convention. He was on the first Board of 
Trustees, one of its incorporators and its General Missionary, 
laboring jointly for the Convention and the Home Missionary 
Society for sixteen years. At that time there were no rail- 
roads, and what roads there were, were very poor, and yet in 
those sixteen years he traveled over more than 100,000 miles 
■ — four times around the globe — • behind his Indian ponies. 
He crossed rivers and went through mud and rain, at one 
time fighting the wolves while his ponies ran for miles, 
until at last, just as both were about exhausted, they reached 
a settlement in safety. 

Sometimes he slept under his wagon, sometimes in tents 
on the prairies, or on the floor of the common sleeping room 
of the cabin where he was staying. He often reached his 
journey's end, sick and weary, and was obliged on account 
of asthma, to sit up all night. During these sixteen years of 
service his work is given as follows: Sermons, 5000; family 
calls, 16,000; books sold or donated, 25,000 volumes; tracts 
distributed, 256,000 pages; letters written, 10,720. During all 
this time we find but one record of vacation, and in that 
five weeks, he prepared and delivered the centennial address 
of the Baptist church of his native town. 

The results of his work are found in the impression of his 
character on the State of Minnesota, which delights to honor 
him, and in the inspiration to daily life. This is the tribute 
which keeps fresh his memory in every gathering of state 
workers. His strongest characteristics were his force of 
character, his unconquerable persistence, and his unwavering 



2J2 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

faith. He never stopped to look at obstacles, but at the work. 
He was a preacher whom the common people heard gladly. 
Some one has said it was a sight not soon to be forgotten, 
when in schoolhouse or cabin, the hardy pioneers with rapt 
attention and weeping eyes, Hstened as in simple, humble 
phrase, he told the story of Christ crucified. Throughout 
the State he was known by the familiar name of "Father 
Gale." In 1874, on account of poor health, he resigned 
his position and started on a long anticipated journey to 
the Old World and the Holy Land. He reached Jerusalem 
much prostrated, but went on to Joppa; but on the way he 
suffered sunstroke and died, Nov. 25, 1874, on Thanksgiving 
Day. He was buried the following day in the German 
Cemetery at Joppa, overlooking the plains of Sharon. A 
plain, white, marble headstone bearing a simple inscription 
marks his grave. 

Harlow A. Gale, youngest son of Isaac and Tamar 
(Goddard) Gale was born in Royalston, July 29, 1832. When 
three years old his father died and he was placed in the 
family of his mother's brother, Rev. Samuel Goddard, of 
Norwich, Vt., where he remained until 1845, when he re- 
turned to his mother's home in Royalston. He removed 
with his mother to Millbury, Mass., where he attended 
Millbury Academy and also taught in the schools of the town. 
He was graduated from Union College in 1856, and soon 
after went to Minneapolis, Minn., and became identified 
with some of the most important business enterprises of that 
city. In 1872 he bought and plotted forty acres known 
as Gale's First Addition, more than half of which he soon after 
sold at auction in one day, this being the first successful 
large auction sale of plotted land ever held in the city. 
Several years later he plotted and put on the market thirty 
acres embraced in Gale's Second Addition. In 1877 he built 
the first public market in the city, securing a franchise 
for fifteen years, and which he personally managed until it 
was destroyed by fire some years later. He then became 
interested with T. B. Walker in the erection and operation 
of a new city market, for which Mr. Gale obtained the 
franchise, and with which he was connected until the closing 
months of his life. In 1858 he was appointed Deputy Clerk, 
and subsequently was elected and served as County AucUtor for 



THE GALE FAMILY 2JJ 

three successive terms. He married Elizabeth C. Griggs, 
daughter of Rev. Leverett Griggs of Bristol, Conn., June 13, 
1859; four children were born to them: Harlow Stearns, 
born June 29, 1862, married Mary Elwood Corser. They 
have one son and two daughters. He has a clerkship con- 
nected with municipal affairs, and also writes musical notes 
for the daily papers. 

Isabel Gale, the second child, was born Aug. 28, 1865; 
she married Tryon, a lawyer, in 1891. They have seven 
children. Robert Griggs Gale, the second son, was born 
Oct. 18, 1870. He married Mary Alice Greene of Worcester, 
Mass., and they have three daughters. He completed five 
years of musical education at Leipsic, Germany, and is 
engaged in the writing and teaching of music in Minneapolis. 

William Goddard Gale, the fourth and youngest child, 
died March 28, 1898 at Cripple Creek, Colo., where he had 
gone to develop business interests in the mines. 



THE BARTLETT FAMILY 

Nathan Bartlett, the first person by the name of Bartlett 
to settle in the town of Royalston, was born at Brookfield, 
Mass., March 17, 1744, and was a son of Nathaniel and 
Sarah (Thompson) Bartlett, and great-grandson of Joseph 
Bartlett who settled in Cambridge, Mass. in 1668. He 
married Esther Childs of Brookfield June 14, 1770. They 
moved to Royalston in 1792, and purchased from Barzillar 
Miller of Rutland a farm situated in the southeasterly part 
of Royalston and containing one hundred and four acres, 
for which he paid one hundred and eighty-five pounds. 

The farm purchased was bounded as follows: South- 
easterly on land of Lieut. Silas Foster, Joseph Stockwell and 
the Grants, easterly on the land of said Joseph Stockwell, 
northerly on land of David Lyons and Silas Chase and 
westerly on land of Joseph Stockwell and Silas Foster. 

On May 10, 1799 he purchased from the town of Royal- 
ston a pew on the lower floor of the East Meetinghouse 
numbered and marked forty-nine, together with the ground 
on which it stood with all the privileges belonging to same. 
The original deed of farm and pew in said East Meeting- 



234 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

house are in the posse^•sion of his great-grandson Edward E- 
Bartlett. Nathan Bartlett and wife were blessed with a 
family of nine children, eight of whom were born at Brook- 
field and one at Royalston. 

Their children were: Ira, born March 21, 1771, married 
Dec. 15, 1799, Sally Bacheller of Boyalston; they had a 
family of two children; Jonas, born Jan. 2, 1773, married 
Hannah Bacheller, April 25, 1797, at Royalston; they had a 
a family of ten children; Esther, born Jan. 3, 1775, married 
Daniel Nichols, June 17, 1795, at Royalston, no children. 
Lucy, born May 26, 1778, married Thomas Bacheller Dec. 4, 
1796, at Royalston; they had a family of seven children; 
Betsy, born Sept. 30, 1780, married Jacob Fisher of Lancaster, 
Mass., Jan. 30, 1823, at Royalston; they had one child; 
Sally, born Oct. 11, 1783, married Frederick Van Patten of 
Schenectady, N. Y.; they had seven or eight children; Nathan, 
born Sept. 8, 1786, a twin, married Mary Miller, Nov. 9, 
1807, at Royalston, and they had a family of eleven children; 
Naomah, born Sept. 8, 1786, a twin, married Elisha Gregory 
of Winchendon at Royalston, Dec. 29, 1827; no children; 
Silas Childs, born at Royalston, Oct. 2, 1793, married Martha 
Cutler, Feb. 9, 1820, at Royalston, and they had a family of 
five children. Esther Childs, wife of Nathan Bartlett died at 
Royalston, Jan. 2, 1809, and he married, second, Mrs. Anna 
Collins of Fitzwilliam, N. H., Jan. 28, 1813. She died at Royal- 
ston, Aug. 1, 1817, and Nathan Bartlett died at Royalston, 
Oct. 25, 1821. 

The children of Jonas and Hannah (Bacheller) Bartlett, 
all born in Royalston, were: Luke, born May 14, 1798, died 
Nov. 15, 1819; Hannah, born Nov. 15, 1799, died unmarried 
April 29, 1838; Rosilla, born Nov. 25, 1801, married Harvey 
Holman, Dec. 24, 1826; they had four children: Charles A., 
Charles Augustus, John Harvey and Luke Henry; Lorinda, 
born Aug. 15, 1803, married Archibald Chase, Oct. 5, 
1825, and they had a family of five children; Rosilla B., 
Luke Swain, Ira Pierce, Harvey Holman, and Henry Eddy; 
Sally, born Aug. 5, 1805, died April 26, 1825; Elmer, bom 
April 22, 1808, married Elizabeth Morse, daughter of Russell 
and Elizabeth (Waite) Morse, Aug. 22, 1843, at Boston, and 
they had two children, Emma G. and Edward E. 




JOHN N. BARTLETT 



THE BARTLETT FAMILY 235 

OUic, bom Oct. 24, 1809, married Benjamin W. Upham, 
April 2, 1839, and they had three children: Rosilla M., Lucy 
Val Netta, and Elmer B.; Lucy, born April 22, 1814, died 
July 13, 1815; Benjamin B., born April 7, 1816, married 
Mary Morse, daughter of Russell and Elizabeth (Waite) 
Morse, June 15, 1843, and they had two children, Cora V. and 
Hubert C. 

Jonas Bartlett died at Royalston, Sept. 21, 1837. Hannah 
Bacheller the wife of Jonas Bartlett spent nearly one-third 
of her hfe a widow and died at Royalston, Oct. 19, 1868, 
at the advanced age of 90 years, 11 months and 3 days. 
She lived to see nine of her ten children pass to the other 
world, and resided in the same house for over fifty-one years. 

John Norton Bartlett, the youngest child of Jonas and 
Hannah (Bacheller) Bartlett was born at Royalston, July 28, 
1819, and received his education in the public .schools of 
Royalston. Soon after attaining the age of twenty-one he 
purchased from his mother and the other heirs of the family 
the home farm and turned his attention to farming which he 
made a success, and at which he accumulated quite a property. 
About 1870 he gave up farming to a certain extent and turned 
his attention to Probate work and Conveyancing, in which 
he had a large practice both in this town and adjoining 
towns. He also took a great interest in town affairs and 
held nearly all of the town offices such as Selectman, Assessor, 
Treasurer and Tax Collector. He was one of the Committee 
of Ffftcen to make arrangements for celebrating the Hun- 
dreth Anniversary of the incorporation of Royalston, and was 
also chosen Secretary of the Historical Committee. 

About 1873 he gave up the home farm and went to live 
with one of his neighbors, Mr. John W. Stockwell, with 
whom he remained until 1877 when he moved to South 
Royalston. He married Mrs. Rosana 0. (Knight) Cross, 
Jan. 6, 1877. In the spring of 1887 he returned to his 
former home at Mr. Stockwell's, where he remained until 
his death in 1905. In the fall of 1894 he was stricken with 
a paralytic shock which prevented him from taking any 
active part in business or town affairs; but he never lost his 
interest in public local affairs, as will be seen by an article 
that appeared in the Warrant for the Annual Town Meeting, 
to be held March 6, 1899. 



236 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Article 8. "To see if the Town of Royalston will a?cept 
a gift from John N. Bartlett on certain conditions or take 
any action thereon." As Mr. Bartlett's health would not 
allow him to be present he was represented by his nephew, 
Edward E. Bartlett, who read the conditions of the gift to 
the people then assembled, which were as follows: Royalston, 
Mass., March 6, 1899. To see if the Town of Royalston will 
accept from John N. Bartlett a gift of $20,000, to be held 
and applied, as a trust fund, the income of which shall be 
appropriated and paid over annually for the benefit and 
support of the poor in said town of Royalston on the follow- 
ing conditions forever, namely: That every year, a Committee 
of four or more, of whom One and Only One shall be a member 
of the Board of Overseers of the Poor, shall be chosen by 
ballot by the town at a legally called town meeting, and 
said Committee shall have the charge of investment and 
oversight of said trust fund, said Overseer of the Poor to be 
called upon at Any and All Times by the rest of said Com- 
mittee for information in regard to the Expenditures and 
Legality of said expenditures for the poor, and said Com- 
mittee shall report annually in Detail the Investments and 
condition of the same in Print in the Annual Town Reports 
over their own signatures and income of the said trust fund. 
Said income shall be applied to the support of the poor as 
they are now or may be provided for by law for that purpose; 
and if at the end of the annual year the income shall exceed 
the demand for that purpose the surplus of that year, if any, 
shall be added to the principal to be kept intact to the addi- 
tion of the principal forever for that purpose. The same to 
be called the John N. Bartlett Fund, and these requirements 
and conditions shall be recorded on the Town Records for 
reference and guidance for the Town and Committee and 
(Jverseers of the Poor. The investment of said fund shall be 
made only in United States Securities, or in Bonds of the 
State of Massachusetts, or Bonds or Notes of Cities or 
Towns within the State of Massachusetts, or in Savings 
Banks within the State of Massachusetts, and in no case 
shall said Trust Fund or Interest thereof or any part thereof 
be invested in real estate or mortgages on real estate. 



THE BARTLETT FAMILY 237 

The said gift of Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000) may 
be made to the Town within the year A. D., One Thousand 
Eight Hundred and Ninety-nine. 

Provided, however, that if at any time the Town should 
fail to comply with the requirements of said gift as stated 
above, or should cease to be a town, or should consolidate 
or annex to any other town, then this Trust Fund shall 
revert and be paid over to the donor and if he is not living 
to his legitimate heirs by right of representation. 

(Witness) Edward E. Bartlett. John N. Bartlett. 

Hubert Carlton Bartlett, son of Benjamin Bacheller and 
Mary (Morse) Bartlett, was born in Royalston, Feb. 20, 
1848. His school education was acquired in the schools of 
Royalston, at the Academy in Westminster, Mass., and 
Appleton Academy, New Ipswich, N. H. His business 
career began in 1868, when he purchased the general store in 
the annex to the former parsonage and tavern building at the 
head of Royalston Common; he continued in the business of 
a general country store at this stand for four or five years. 
During the latter years of that time he published the only 
periodical ever issued from Royalston, probably, called 
The United States. It was issued monthly at first, and 
later weekly, and was semi-local in character, in spite of its 
national name. It was printed at Keene, N. H., and in 1873, 
he removed to that place, learned the ''art preservative of 
arts" at the Cheshire Republican office, and continued the 
publication of his paper until 1877, when he removed to 
Fitchburg, Mass. Since that time he has been engaged in the 
printing and publishing business in Fitchburg, substantially 
all of the time with the Sentinel office and others, and on 
his own account for many years. 

Mr. Bartlett was married to Ella M. Samson of Royalston, 
November 15, 1870. They have had two children : Grace 
Edith, born in Royalston Sept. 26, 1871 ; and Nelson Herbert, 
born in Fitchburg, Dec. 14, 1881. 

Societies as such have never had any charm for him, and 
the only one of consequence of which he has been a member 
was a fraternal insurance organization, for which he acted as 
local secretary for some seventeen years. In such matters 
as politics, he has taken little inte rest until he has found 



2JS HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

some principle of great importance at stake, and so he has 
usually acted with minority parties, which must grow into 
popularity before they can win. For the last fifteen years 
or so he has stood with the Socialist party and has been 
selected by his associates almost as a perennial candidate for 
one office or another, local or state. In 1904, as Socialist 
candidate for Treasurer of the Commonwealth and Receiver 
General, he received 16,679 votes. Through the local and 
general press, as well as his own publications, he has cham- 
pioned unpopular causes, and stood for the rights of the 
people as against corporate monopoly and greed and medical 
graft. 

Cora rinette, daughter of Benjamin Bacheller and Mary 
(Morse) Bartlett, was born in Royalston, March 15, 1845. 
She was for many years a prominent teacher in the schools 
of Cincinnati, Ohio. She now makes her home in Athol a 
portion of the time. 



THE DEXTER FAMILY 

James Dexter of Grafton was the ancestor of the Dexter 
family connected with Royalston history. He was born in 
1749 and died in 1822, at the age of seventy-three years. He 
married June 20, 1773, Rebekah Wheeler, who was born in 
1758 and died in 1817 at the age of fifty-nine years. He 
came to Royalston and purchased the place that had been 
settled by one Reuben Putnam. They had eleven children, 
most of whom died young. 

Ebenezer Wheeler Dexter, fourth son of James and Rebekah 
(Wheeler) Dexter was born March 24, 1780. He purchased 
the place in the south part of the town on the TuUy where 
one of the early sawmills of the town had been built. He 
rebuilt the sawmill and in 1844 erected a fine residence, in 
Colonial style, one of the best in Royalston, and which was his 
home until his death May 14, 1860, at the age of eighty 
years. He was a prosperous farmer and mill owner. 

He married Rachel Rich, Aug. 6, 1805, who was born 
July 12, 1781 and died April 23, 1816. Their four children 
were: Mina, born Dec. 1, 1806, married Salmon Burbank, 
Nov. 17, 1828; they had two children, Martha and Andrew; 




MR. AND MRS. EBENEZER WHEELER DEXTER 



THE DEXTER FAMILY 239 

Eliza, born Nov. 1, 1807, married Asa F. Brooks June 12, 
1832; they had three chiklren, Daniel, Augusta and Gilbert; 
Albert, born Jan 23, 1809, married and settled in California; 
they had four sons, names unknown; Simeon, born Dec. 17, 
1810, married Mary Piper, Oct. 9, 1837; they had one son, 
name unknown. 

Ebenezer Wheeler Dexter married, second, Cynthia Walker, 
daughter of Moses Walker, Sept. 23, 1817. She was born 
Dec. 19, 1799 and died May 5, 1869, at the age of seventy 
years. They had seven children. John, born Feb. 16, 1819, 
died in the early sixties, of yellow fever in Havana, Cuba. 
He married and had three sons, James Eugene, and one who 
died when quite young; the second son, born June 10, 1822, 
lived but a few weeks and died unnamed; James, born July 4, 
1823, lived at home, assisting on the farm and at the mill; 
he died Nov. 4, 1844, at the age of twenty-one. Rachel 
Dexter, oldest daughter of E. Wheeler and Cynthia (Walker) 
Dexter, was born in Royalston, Sept. 14, 1827. She was 
married April 4, 1847 to James M. Lee of Athol. They had 
two children, Warren Dexter and Mabel. 

Warren Dexter Lee, born April 27, 1849, married Etta J. 
Frost of Athol, Dec. 14, 1875. They had one daughter, 
Blanche, born Aug. 8, 1878, who died Sept. 4, 1880. They 
reside in Athol; Mabel Lee, born March 27, 1860, married George 
S. Brewer of Athol, Dec. 10, 1890. They have one daughter, 
Helen, born Oct. 4, 1891; she married Carl S. Carlson, March 
25, 1914, and they have a daughter Phyllis Lee, born Sept. 29, 
1915. Four generations of this family are living in one home 
in Athol; Rachel Lee, Mabel her daughter, Helen the grand- 
daughter and Phyllis the great granddaughter. 

Almeda Dexter Bryant, the second daughter of Ebenezer 
Wheeler and Cynthia (Walker) Dexter was born in Royalston, 
Jan. 2, 1830. She was educated in the schools of her native 
town and lived there most of the time until her marriage to 
Calvin Turner Bryant of Winchendon, Oct. 9, 1860. In 1861 
they built the home on Pleasant St., where Mrs. Bryant now 
resides with her daughter, her husband having died July 14, 
1906. The forty-six years of her married life were spent 
in Winchendon, where Mr. Bryant was engaged in the grocery 
business. They had two children. Flora Almeda, the elder 
of their two children, was born Nov. 21, 1861. She received 



240 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

her education in the Winchendon schools and the Worcester 
Normal School. She taught in the public schools of her 
native town for twenty-five years, resigning in 1907 to 
assume the care of her mother. ^Ya\do Calvin, the second 
child, was born Dec. 17, 1863. He attended the town schools, 
Gushing Academy, Ashburnham, Mass., and the Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute. After his graduation from the latter 
institution in 1884, he commenced his business career as an 
electrical engineer. In 1888, having invented the Bryant 
Push and Pull Switch, he went to Bridgeport, Conn., and 
began to manufacture electric light supplies under the name 
of the Bryant Electric Company. Mr. Bryant is now presi- 
dent, treasurer, director and general manager of this Company, 
which has a capitalization of $2,500,000. He is also president, 
treasurer, director and general manager of the Perkins Elec- 
tric Switch Mfg. Co., vice-president, secretary and director 
of the Siemon Hard Rubber Corporation; director, Bridgeport 
Hydraulic Company, Bridgeport Brass Co., Bead Chain 
Manufacturing Co., First Bridgeport National Bank; trustee 
Peoples' Savings Bank; director Bridgeport Trust Co., Bridge- 
port Hospital and Bridgeport Boys' Club. April 5, 1887, he 
married Ida Gerald of New London, Conn. They have two 
children. Waldo Gerald, born July 30, 1891, is a graduate 
of Lakeville, Conn., Preparatory School and Sheffield Scientific 
School of Yale University. He is now president and treasurer 
of the Bead Chain Mfg. Co. Their daughter Doris was born 
March 26, 1902. 

Moses Walker Dexter, son of Ebenezer Wheeler and 
Cynthia (Walker) Dexter, was born at Royalston, March 3, 
1833. In early manhood, he was associated with his brother 
John Dexter in business in New York City. In 1866, he engaged 
in the tea business, and became a wholesale tea merchant, 
in 1877, continuing in that business until his death, which 
occured in Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 16, 1909. 

He was married in 1862 to Miss Ellen Eliza Rawson of 
East Alstead, N. H. Five children were born to them: the 
eldest Blanche Elizabeth, who married Mr. J. W. C. Campbell 
of the firm of Tilge & Co., Hatters Fur Exchange, New 
York City. Their children were John Russell and Ralph 
McKenzie. 





MOSES WALKER DEXTER 



BELA DEXTER 





RACHEL (DEXTEKl LEE 



ALMEDA (DEXTER) BRYANT 



THE DEXTER FAMILY 241 

Henry L., a practicing physician of marked abilitj^ who 
married Miss Harriet Grace, M. D.,of Bayonne, N. J., where 
they still reside. They hav^e one child, Henry Irving, Elle7i 
Raivson married Mr. William H. Wanamaker, Jr., a clothing 
merchant of Philadelphia, and they res'de at Merion, Pa. Five 
children were born to them, Eleanor, Isabel, Louise, William 
and Alma. 

Alma Edith, married Mr. Ralph S. Goldsbury of Brooklyn, 
N. Y. She died Oct. 26 1899. Russell Eugene, married Miss 
Mary lyawrence Smith of Amherst, Mass, He is a graduate of 
Princeton University and is now connected with the Midvale 
Steel Co., of Philadelphia, Pa. They have one child, Doris, 
and reside in Detroit, Mich. 

Bela Dexter, son of Ebenezer Wheeler and Cynthia 
(Walker) Dexter, was born at Royalston, Sept. 1, 1835. He 
lived in Athol for a few years and removed to Ludlow, Vt., in 
1870, and from there to East Dorset, Vt., two years later. 
Afterwards removed to Rutland, Vt., which place has since 
been his home. He has represented the town in the Legisla- 
ture, been a Daputv Sheriff and Justice of the Peace. He was 
married Nov. 26, 1859 to Hannah Augusta Wheeler of Athol, 
Nine children were born to them : Jennie Margaret, born July 
26, 1863 at Athol ; Herbert Bela, born Nov, 11, 1865, at Athol ; 
he is employed in the Boston & Maine Railroad offices in 
Boston ; Everett Wheeler, born May 1, 1866 at Athol; he is an 
electrician in Denver, Col.; Bertha Augusta, born Nov, 8, 1869 
at Athol, died May 5, 1893; Alice Louise, born Nov. 25, 1871, 
at Ludlow, Vt.; her education was received at the Rutland 
High School and Worcester Academy, and she was appointed 
Register and Associate Judge of the Rutland Probate Court, 
Dec. 1, 1908; Grace E., born Sept. 10, 1873 at East Dorset, Vt; 
Ernest A,, born Oct. 28, 1875 at East Dorset, Vt.; he is a con- 
fectioner in Rutland; Maud E., born Aug. 13, 1877 at East 
Dorset, Vt., died Feb. 28, 1882; Vesta Etta, born June 5, 1880 
at East Dorset, married June 8, 1903 to Herbert Milton Davison 
of Rutland, Vt.; they have two children, Herbert Milton born 
July 10, 1904 and Elizabeth Augusta, born March 10, 1906. 



242 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

THE WHITE FAMILY 

Elisha White, the first member of the White family to be- 
come a resident of Royalston, was born in Mendon, Mass., 
March 12, 1753, and died at Royalston, July 8, 1811. He 
married Maiy Corbett, born in MiLford, July 28, 1755, and died 
at Royalston, June 17, 1850. He moved with others from Mil- 
ford about 1775, and settled in Ervings Grant, now the east 
part of Orange, but soon moved to the southwest part of 
Royalston. They had 13 children, the youngest of whom was 
Adriel, born at Royalston, Feb. 22, 1799, and died March 
17, 1869. He married Olive Davis, daughter of Squire Davis 
at Royalston, Jan. 22, 1826; they were married by Benoni 
Peck, Esq. She died at Owosso, Mich., Jan. 6, 1879. 

They settled on a farm in the northwest part of Royalston, 
near the Richmond line, and had ten children. They were 
both members of the Baptist Church. He was one of the 
Selectmen and Assessors for several years. Was one of the 
fii"st Free Soilers, and prominent in the temperance cause, 
and raised the first framed building in that section of the coun- 
try where coffee and doughnuts took the place of new rum. 
He took great interest in the schools, and gave all his children 
a term or more at some academy, and they all taught in the 
district schools. Of the ten children, eight lived to maturity. 
The children were: Theresa L., Erastus E., Philetus D., Wel- 
lington, Adriel C, Harlan P., Asaph M., Melzar, Rollin O., 
OHve T. L. 

1. Theresa L., born Oct. 30, 1826, and died March 26, 
1847. 

2. Erastus E. White, was bom at Royalston, March 30, 
1828. He was married in Marlboro, Vt., April 18, 1853, to 
Annah Mather, who was bom Aug. 3, 1830, and who was a 
lineal descendant of Cotton Mather. She died at Manhattan, 
Kansas, Nov. 28, 1888. He married (2) in Rindge, N. H., 
Mrs. Ann Bennett Cutter; she died in Natick, Mass. 

He settled in Owosso, Mich., in 1856, with his two brothem, 
Philetus D. and Wellington. The three brothers were as- 
sociated in the planing mill business, the first of its kind be- 
tween Detroit and Grand Rapids, nianufactm-ing doors, sashes, 
blinds, and later, for a number of years furniture and extension 
tables, etc. He was for eighteen years a member of the School 



THE WHITE FAMILY 243 

Board, and with his wife and two brothers, named above, was 
numbered among the constituent members of the First Bap- 
tist Church of Owosso. Later he removed to Seattle, Wash- 
ington and made his home with his daughter, Mrs. Lucy 
Shelton, where he died March 23, 1910. His remains were 
sent to Ow^osso and buried beside his first wife. He had two 
children: Lucy Louise and Henry Kirk. 

Lucy Louise White was born in Owosso, Dec. 6, 1858, and 
married William Shelton of the same place in 1888. Henry 
Kirk White was born in Owosso, June 21, 1863, and was married 
to Ida Belle Durkee of the same place, June 27, 1889. Henry 
Kirk White took the degree Ph.B. at the University of Michi- 
gan in 1888. He was superintendent of schools of Fenton, 
Mich., 1888-90 and editor and publisher of the Owosso Press 
American since 1890. 

(3) Philetus Davis White was born in Royalston, Oct. 28, 
1830. He was married in Brattleboro, Vt., April 19, 1855 
to Mary E. Evans, who died at Brattleboro, November 13, 
of the same year. 

He married (2) Eliza E. Wheeler at her home in Lee, Mass., 
Sept. 9, 1863. Two children were born to Philetus D. and Eliza 
E. White: Mary Gertrude and Harlan Page. 

Mary Gertrude White was born at Owosso, Feb. 23, 1868, 
and was married to Frank Converse of the same place Sept. 
1, 1890. They reside at Beloit, Wis., where Mr. Converse has 
been for several years and still is superintendent of schools. 
Harlan Page White was born March 29, 1870, and was married 
to Minnie Daniels at her home in Owosso on Sept. 30, 1898. 
He has been for several years and still is, mailing clerk at the 
Owosso Post Office. 

Philetus Davis White died in Owosso, Mich., Dec. 11, 1914. 

(4) Wellington White, was born at Royalston, Aug. 22, 1832, 
and was married in Worcester, Mass., Sept. 6, 1865 to Lucy 
Rebecca Pierce, daughter of Capt. Ebenezer Pierce of Royal- 
ston. He went with his two brothers to Owosso, Mich., in 
1856. In August, 1861, he enlisted for three years in Co. F, 
Michigan Volunteers. He was afterwards transferred to a 
regimental band; served in Kentucky and Tennessee until 
July 13, 1862, when with six companies of his regiment he 
was taken prisoner at Murfreesboro, Tenn., by rebel forces 
under Gen. N. B. Forest, was paroled, and later, was by special 



244 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

order from the War Department honorably discharged from 
the service Aug. 6, 1862. In early life he taught school, and 
later in life served his church (the First Baptist of Owosso, 
Mich.) as deacon. He is a member of the G. A. R. Post of his 
town and chaplain of the same. He was one of the committee 
of fifteen who had charge of the Royalston centennial celebra- 
tion of 1865, and was also one of the vice-presidents of the One 
Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary in August, 1915, and had 
a place in the grand parade of that day. 

(5) Adrid C. White was born at Royalston, April 19, 1835. 
He married Elsie A. Davis of Royalston, daughter of Jarvis 
Davis, March 12, 1861 at Bellows Falls, Vt. He attended 
school in District No. 7, and at Brattleboro Academy. Was 
a successful schoolteacher for several years in Royalston, 
FitzwilHam and Richmond, N. H., Guilford, Vt., New Jersey 
and other places. In August, 1862 he enlisted as private in 
Co. E, 53d Regt. Mass. Volunteers for nine months, was pro- 
moted to sergeant, and was with the regiment in every march 
and engagement. Was discharged Sept. 2, 1863. 

In 1869 he moved to Warwick, where he lived twenty years, 
and held the offices of Selectman, Assessor and Overseer of 
the Poor. He removed to North Orange in 1896, where he 
still resides. He is a member of the H. V. Smith Post, G. A. R. 
of Athol, and a Past Master of North Orange Grange. March 
11, 1911, Mr. and Mrs. Wliite observed their golden wedding 
anniversary. For several years he has carried the mail between 
Athol and North Orange. He has one son, Rollin O. White, 
born at Royalston Sept. 17, 1868, married Daisy L. Hastings 
of Warwick, June 3, 1892; they have two children: Kathryn 
E. White, born July 23, 1896 and Kenneth H. White, born 
Oct. 8, 1906. Mr. White is one of the leading farmers of North 
Orange, and is prominent in Grange work, having been Master 
of the Subordinate and Pomona Granges, and has also been a 
memljer of the School Committee. 

Harlan P. and Melzar both died in infancy. 

(7) Asaph M. White was born in Royalston Aug. 6, 1840. 

He married Mary Goddard, daughter of Salmon Goddard. 

He received his education at Powers Institute, Bernardston, 

and New Salem Academy; he was a schoolteacher on Cape 

Cod, in Royalston, Richmond and Fitzwilliam, N. H. He was 



THE WHITE FAMILY 245 

honored with several town and church offices. Was Selectman 
and Assessor in Royalston for many years; deacon and Sunday- 
school teacher in the Royalston and Athol Baptist churches; 
assisted the Royalston church choir with his voice and bass 
viol. He owned a farm in Royalston, afterward spending eight 
years in Athol, where he was employed in a piano shop; also 
was engaged in the grocery business in Keene, N. H., where 
he resided three years. He enlisted from Royalston, July 
21, 1862 in the 36th Mass. Regiment of Volunteers. Was 
promoted to Corporal, and was discharged at the expiration 
of his term of enlistment. Was detailed to the Commissary 
Department, and served for some three months. He had two 
sons: Walter White, born Feb. 28, 1869, and Ernest White, 
born April 29, 1870. Both were born in Royalston. He died 
Sept. 29, 1906. 

(8) Rollin 0. White, born at Royalston, Sept. 17, 1843. 
He enlisted at the age of seventeen years with his brother 
Asaph in the 36th Regiment Mass. Volunteers. Was promoted 
to Corporal; was wounded at Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864, and 
died of wounds at Washington, D. C, June 25, 1864. 

(10) Olive Theresa Lovina White was born at Royalston, 
Nov. 9, 1848, and was married at Brattleboro, Vt., Dec. 23, 
1870 to Robert D. Crawford of Owosso, Mich., who was born 
at Milford, Mich., Sept. 7, 1844. They soon went to Owosso, 
Mich., which has since been their home. They have had four 
children all born in Owosso. 



THE CHARLES W. BOWKER FAMILY 

In the Royalston Memorial, 1865, mention is made of 
Silas Bowker, who settled near the Priest Brook, in the 
easterly part of the town. He was born in Westboro, 
May 29, 1733. He married Bethia Ward, January 17, 1760. 
Those of their children who settled in Royalston were Stephen 
Bigelow Bowker, who was born December 25, 1772, on the 
Bowker farm and died there; and Samuel Ward Bowker, who 
lived on what is now known as the Hadley place, situated 
between the farm owned by Lyman Stone and the Clarence Stone 
place, formerly known as the James Wilson place. Stephen 
Bigelow Bowker married Submit Grover of Grafton, and they 



24.(, HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

had two children, Silas and Nathaniel. Silas died at the age 
of 20 years. Nathaniel Bowker married Philenia Wheeler, of 
Chesterfield, N. H., and they had four children; Stephen Bigelow 
Bowker, who was born March 8, 1833, and died in May, 1878; 
Silas W., who was born June 1, 1835, and died in infancy; 
Lucia A., who was born May 1, 1838, and died in July, 1890; 
and Charles Watson Bowker, who was born June 15, 1841. 
Lucia married Edwin W. Hadley and they had one son, Charles 
W. Hadley, born July 10, 1862, who married Allie E. Bishop 
and now lives in Worcester. He is the present proprietor 
of the Tower House, Falmouth Heights. 

Charles Watson Bowker, son of Nathaniel and Philenia 
(Wheeler) Bowker, was born in Royalston, June 15, 1841, 
on the Bowker farm, one and one-half mile-, east of 
Royalston Center on the Winchendon road. His only 
school education was obtained at the Old Northeast District 
School. His father carried on a butchering business in 
connection with the farm, and was also connected with the 
lumber business, buying old growth pine timber lots in 
company with James Wilson and Lyman Stone. The butcher- 
ing business was carried on very differently at that time from 
what it is now. As they used no ice at that time and had 
no electric or gashght, they had to do th3 butchering in the 
night time on account of the flies, depending for light on oil 
lamps, tallow candles, and more or less on old tin lanterns 
that opened at one side. 

When he was twelve years old, his father put him in 
charge of a meat market in Winchendon in the Amasa Whit- 
ney block, and he boarded at the American House, kept by 
a man named Knight. When he was fifteen years old, he 
used to help his brother Stephen get the cattle home from 
the pastures in the daytime and then help him to butcher 
until 10 o'clock at night. He would then go to bed and 
his mother would call him at 12 o'clock, midnight, for break- 
fast. His horses would be all hitched up and his cart loaded 
with meat, and he would start as soon as he got through 
breakfast for South Orange, fifteen miles distant, by way of 
Athol. He would get there about 5 o'clock in the morning, 
cut up the meat and peddle through the village of South 
Orange and on certain days through North New Salem, 
New Salem town, West Orange, Wendall and Erving. The 





/^ 



c^-p^ 



UOtr-ut-^t^ 



THE CHARI.es W. BOWKER FAMILY 247 

cattle were native beef bought from the farmers in Royalston 
and adjoining towns. He remembers one time when going 
up Salem Hill by what was called Rattlesnake Hill, that his 
horse stopped in the road and did not want to go along. 
He was walking behind his meat cart and when he went ahead 
to see what the trouble was, he found a rattlesnake in the 
road, which as it glided into the bushes sounded its character- 
istic rattle. Every other day he went 1 ack home to Royal- 
ston, had two hours sleep or e night and six hours the next. 
They did not have a labor union at that time. His father 
was sick for a year or two and he went back and lived at 
home on the farm. Eis father died July 22, 1861, when he 
was twenty years old. 

Mr. Bowker was married January 1, 1863, to Nancy A. 
Sibley, daughter of Joel and Rhoda Sibley. He was in the 
pail and lumber business in New Boston for a few years 
with his brothers-in-law, William and Joel Sibley. In April, 
1867, he bought out the grain business of J. A. Robbins 
of Winchendon, and afterward sold one-half interest to Wood- 
cock & Sawyer. He then moved to Winchendon, and later 
Woodcock & Sawyer sold out their one-half interest to C. L. 
Beals and the business was carried on for six years under 
the firm name of Beals & Bowker. At that time he had 
two children, John B. Bowker, who was born in Royalston, 
March 12, 1865, and who for the past ten years has been 
business manager of the Worcester Telegram, and Charles 
Alfred Bowker, who was born in Royalston, February 24, 
1867, and who died at the age of six years. John B. Bowker 
was secretary of the Worcester Agricultural Society for 
several years and City Auditor of Worcester for seven years 
l)efore entering his present position. 

In 1870 Mr. Bowker's first wife died; and he was married 
September 12, 1871, to Susan Baker Upham. In 1873 he 
sold out his interest in the grain business, moved to Worcester 
and went into the produce business. He then began 
buying real estate, and at the present time has sixty-nine 
apartments besides a business block at Washington Square 
and one on Central Street, where he and his two sons, George 
Arthur and C. W. Bowker, Jr., carry on a grain business 
under the name of C. W. Bowker & Company, Inc. 



24-8 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

There were four children born of his second marriage: 
Harrison Winthrop, George Arthur, Lena May and Charles 
Watson, Jr. Harrison Winthrop Bowker was born in Worcester 
June 10, 1877, was graduated from Harvard College in June, 
1901; and after attending the Harvard Law School was admitted 
to the Massachusetts bar and began the practice of law in 
Worcester in 1904. George Arthur Bowker was born in 
Worcester, June 4, 1881, and completed his studies at the 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He was married on July 31, 
1913, to Grace M. Oakes of Worcester. Lena May Bowker was 
born in Royalston, July 24, 1885. She was graduated in 1908 
from Mt. Holyoke College, where she gained the honor of Phi 
Beta Kappa. Charles Watson Bowker, Jr., was born in Royal- 
ston, Sept. 11, 1888, and was graduated from Dartmouth 
College in 1911. He was married September 12, 1914, to 
Dorothy White of Yonkers, N. Y. The latter two children were 
born on Beryl Hill farm in the northeast part of the town, where 
Mr. Bowker' s family spent their summers during the years he 
owned the farm, 1885-1895. Here Mr. Bowker bred thorough- 
bred Guernsey cattle, and when he left, closed out his entire herd 
to Ex- Vice-President Morton of Rhinecliff, N. Y. 



THE RICHARDSON FAMILY 

According to the historian of the Richardson family, 
Stephen Richardson was a descendant in direct line from 
the family of that name who came from the south of England 
with "Winthrop's fleet" in 1630. Before that date no one 
of that name had been found here on the shores of the New 
World. The family is without doubt of Norman origin, as 
soon after the Norman Conquest one — William Belward — 
had two sons, the younger from his small size named 
"Richard the Little." The son of the last named being a 
favorite name with the Normans, was called John Richard- 
Son, taking his father's name with the addition of son for his 
surname. From this came the name and family of Richardson. 

With "Winthrop's Fleet" came three brothers of this 
name, who at once became identified with the church and 
state affairs at Charlestown, Mass., and afterwards helping 
to establish the town of Woburn. Timothy, in line of 



THE RICHARDSON FAMILY 249 

the descendants of Ssniuel, one of the three brothers, settled 
in Eoyalston. He came from Wrentham. His first wife, 
Alice Wyman, was a relative of the gallant Seth Wyman, 
who after the fall of Captain Lovewell and his lieutenant, 
commanded in the bloody "Lovewell fight"; and by some 
historians, is made the hero of that celebrated personal 
encounter with the Indian Chief Paugus. 

Tradition says "that the wife of Timothy Richardson, then 
a young woman, rode horseback with her husband from 
Wrentham, and as she started from home broke off a twig 
from an apple tree for a riding whip. On arriving at the 
new home she stuck the twig in the ground where it took 
root and became a stalwart tree and bore apples for many 
years." Timothy Richardson and his wife were original 
members of the First Congregational Church in Royalston. 
He was one of the first Selectmen elected in 1765, and served 
at different times for nine years. He was also Royalston's 
first Representative to the General Court, serving in 1776. 
He was born in Attleboro, Mass., Oct. 18, 1715 and died in 
Royalston, Dec. 15, 1801. Timothy Richardson, Jr., son of 
Timothy, was born in Attleboro, March 7, 1741 and married 
Sarah Estey. They had eight children or more, all born in 
Royalston. 

Stephen Richardson, sixth child of Timothy and Sarah 
(Estey) Richardson, was born in Royalston, Sept. 4, 1799. 
He was twice married, first to Lydia Raymond, June 16, 
1807, who died Nov. 19, 1838; he married second a widow, 
Mrs. Sally Walker, who survived him and died in 1877 at 
the age of ninety-three years at the home of her son, Aaron 
Walker in Boston. He was a man of sterling character and 
always held the respect of the townspeople among whom he 
lived — • a good type of the "old time," sturdy yeomanry, who 
did so much to build up our Commonwealth. He died 
suddenly of heart failure Dec. 14, 1863, on the farm settled 
by his father and on which he had always lived. He had 
three sons, Luther, born April, 15, 1808, who married Abigail 
F. Hazeltine of Winchendon, Feb. 15, 1835, and died in 
Winchendon in 1842; Lysander, born in 1812, who became a 
physician in Jaffrey, N. H., and died in 1843; and Franklin 
Richardson. 



2S0 HISTORY OF KOYALSTON 

Franklin Richardson youngest son of Stephen and Lydia 
(Raymond) Richardson, was l)orn Oct. 11, 1815. He married 
Sarah Emerson, Sept. 2, 1840; she died Aug. 21, and he 
married second, Abigail M. Tenney, Dec. 22, 1841. He had a 
daughter, Sarah E., by his first wife, who lived Less than a 
year. When quite young he worked in a cabinet shop in 
Royalston Centre near where the blacksmith shop is now lo- 
cated. One of his fellow shopmates for a short time, who 
worked at the same bench with him, was a young man from 
Vermont by the name of Joseph Smith, who became known in 
later years as the founder of the Mormon reUgion. He hved 
on the home farm with his father until the death of the latter 
in 1863. Soon after he sold the farm, and bought a place 
near the "Common" on the South Royalston road. In a short 
time he bought the store of Obadiah Walker in 1865. This 
store was located where the present parsonage of the Con- 
gregational Church now stands. He carried on this store 
for two years and then retired from business. He died 
Sept. 23, 1881. An adopted daughter, Addie Richardson, 
married Henry R. Newton of Waterford, Vt., Feb. 26, 1880. 
They have two sons, Leon R. of Greenfield, Mass., and 
Ernest A. of Charlestown, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Newton 
reside in St. Johnsbury, Vt. 

Abijah Richardson, son of Timothy Richardson. He 
settled on the home lot of his father, Timothy Richardson, 
the place later known as the Benjamin W. Upham farm. 
He married Hannah Eddy, daughter of Benjamin Eddy of 
Royalston, Nov. 26, 1778. They had eight children, all but 
one of whom were ])orn in Royalston. It is said that he was 
concerned in Shay's Rebellion, and desiring to get beyond 
the jurisdiction of Massachusetts moved to Fitzwilliam, N. H., 
about 1787, and exchanged his Royalston farm for one in 
Fitzwilliam, where his l)rother Eliphalet had previously 
lived. A few years later, probably about 1791, he returned 
to his farm in Royalston. 

Abijah Richardson, Jr., who succeeded his father, Abijah, 
on the home place, was born Feb. 2, 1794. He married 
Lucy Whitney, daughter of Elder Ephraim Whitney, Dec. 18, 
1821. They had six children: Hannah, Ephraim W., Lucy, 
Andrew Jackson and Alice. Lucy (Whitney) Richardson 
died Sept. 18, 1833. Ephraim W. Richardson, born Feb. 28, 



THE RICHARDSON FAMILY £51 

1824, after graduating from college, died just as he was 
entering upon the ministry. 

Andrew Jackson Richardson, bom March 8, 1829, went 
to Wisconsin, and was Captain of a company in the Civil 
War. 

Jefferson, horn Aug. 2, 1827, was a t'eacher in the Royal- 
ston schools, enlisted in a New, Hampshire regiment in the 
war, and died when on his way home from the war. 

Abijah Richardson, Jr., married second, Melinda Cut- 
ler, daughter of Tarrant and Lydia Cutler, April 1, 1834. 
They had three children, George O., Leander and Levi A. 
Melinda (Cutler) Richardson died June, 1879. Abijah Rich- 
ardson, Jr., did! April 24, 1840. 

Dr. Thomas Riclmrdson, came to Royalston about 1790. 
He was a descendant of Thomas Richardson, the youngest 
of the three brothers who came on "Winthrop's Fleet." 
He had eleven children born in Royalston between 1789 
and 1810. He moved to Fitzwilliam, N. H. in 1812. George 
Carter Richardson, who became a prominent merchant of 
Boston and Mayor of Cambridge, was one of his sons. 
A sketch of Dr. Thomas Richardson appears in the chapter 
of the Medical Profession, and one of Hon. George Carter 
Richardson under "Sons of Royalston." 



THE GREGORY FAMILY 

The Gregory family is a remarkable example of great 
business ability shown through three or four generations 
of able business and public men. Isaac Gregory, the first 
of the family name to become identified with Royalston 
history was born in Weston, Mass., Sept. 1, 1759, a son 
of Isaac and Mercy (Lawrence) Gregory. He came to 
Royalston from Templeton about the close of the Revolution. 
He married Susana Holman, who died in Royalston, Jan. 12, 
1793. During the latter part of the eighteenth century 
and the early years of the nineteenth he was probal^ly the 
most prominent man in the town in public and church 
affairs, and died Sept. 15, 1808 at the early age of forty- 
nine years. Judging from the important positions he filled 
he evidently was an extremely busy man. Between 1794 



2^2 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

and 1808 he represented the town of Royalston, seven years 
in the General Court, was Town Clerk five years, Selectman 
eight years, between 1792 and 1803, Assessor twelve years, 
between 1788 and 1805 and deacon of the Congregational 
Church from Jan. 5, 1795 to the day of his death. 

He married, second, widow Molly Town of Fitzwilliam, 
N. H., in 1793. No children by this marriage. The children 
of Isaac and Susana (Holman) Gregory were four sons: 
Jonathan, born June 15, 1786, Isaac, born July 18, 1888, 
Tille, born Oct. 5, 1790 and Franklin, born Dec. 14, 1792. 
Jonathan married Eunice Putnam of New Salem, at Phila- 
delphia, Pa. They had several children. He died in Phila- 
delphia, Isaac married Fannie Field of Northfield. Tille 
died in Paramaribo, South America. 

Major-Getieral Franklin Gregory, youngest son of Isaac and 
Susana Gregory, was born in Royalston, Dec. 14, 1782. 
He received his education in the public schools of Royalston, 
and went at an early age into a store in Boston, where he 
laid the foundation for a business life, after which he returned 
to Royalston and engaged in mercantile pursuits, building 
up an extensive business, and also carried on a large business 
in straw hats, having a bleachery. He followed in the 
footsteps of his father, in holding pubUc offices; represented 
the town in the General Court in 1831 and 1833, was Town 
Clerk in 1819 and 1820, and from 1825 to 1836 inclusive, 
fourteen years in all; and was Postmaster of the Royalston 
office from Aug. 22, 1823 to Sept. 10, 1833. 

In early life he joined the State Militia and developed 
a great fondness for military affairs. He was made Lieut. - 
Colonel of the Fifth Regiment, Second Brigade Massachusetts 
State Mihtia in 1821, served as Colonel in 1823 and 1824, 
was made Brigadier-General of Sixth Division, Second Brigade 
in 1825 and 1826, and was made Major-General of the Sixth 
Division in 1827, serving four years. He did escort duty 
when General Marquis De Lafayette visited Worcester in 
1825. 

He was a man whose honorable career won for him 
the love and esteem of his fellow citizens, and whose un- 
blemished reputation was a rich legacy to his children. He 
died July 6, 1836 at the early age of forty-four years. He 



THE GREGORY FAMILY 253 

married Martha Porter Edwards of Boston, Dec. 10, 1818. 
She was born April 5, 1795 and died Feb. 2, 1874. 

Their children, all born at Royalston, are: Sarah Wayland 
Gregory, born Dec. 10, 1820; she married Oliver Watriss of 
Cambridge, Nov. 19, 1815, they hid four children all living 
in 1915. She died at Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 9, 1886. 

Franklin Edwards Gregory^ son of Franklin and Martha 
(Edwards) Gregory, was born in Royalston, May 7, 1822. 
At the age of sixteen, after an education acquired in the 
public schools of Royalston, he entered as a boy, the dry 

goods store of Austin in Royalston. After a few 

months he went to Keene, N. H., and entered the dry goods 
store of Wales Kimball, and in 1840 want to Cambridge- 
port, Mass., where he became clerk in the dry goods store 
of Edward Hyde. In 1843 he became a salesman in the well- 
established house of Dutton, Richardson & Co., in Boston, 
and in 1847 was admitted to partnership in the firm, which 
continued under the same firm name until 1855, when it 
became Gregory, Tilton & Co. In 1861 Mr. Gregory retired 
from the dry goods business, and soon after became a partner 
in the firm of Spear, Burke & Gregory on Central Wharf, the 
business being chiefly dealing in oils and starch. 

In 1864 he left this new business, and with his old partner, 
George C. Richardson, also a native of Royalston, formed the 
well-known house of George C. Richardson & Co., which con- 
tinued until i88o. From that time as long as he was able to 
engage in active business his time was occupied in the man- 
agement of trusts and trust estates, and in the duties of director 
and manager of financial and other enterprises. He was a di- 
rector in the Revere National Bank of Boston, vice-president 
of the Framingham National Bank and Framingham Savings 
Bank and trustee of the Washington and Potomac Railroad. 
He resided in Cambridge from 1840 to 1883; when he removed 
to Framingham. On May 26, 1847, he married Sarah Frances 
Bird, daughter of William Bird of Boston. They had three 
children : William F., who became a partner in the house of 
Wm. Claflin & Co., in the shoe trade, Charles F., and Anna 
Edwards, His career from a boy in a retail country store in 
his native town of Royalston, to the head of one of Boston's 
leading commission houses, shows that he must have been 



234 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

possessed of a sound judgment and wise foresight. He died 
in Cambridge, June 29, 1903. 

Johri Porter Gregory, second son of General Franklin Gregory, 
was born Nov. 6, 1823. He married Sarah Lane Gregory; they 
had one child who died at Mexico; he married second, Mary 
Stone Gregory by whom he had one child, who died at Guam. 
He was in business in Cambridge with Abel Bruce, and was 
for many years agent of the Union Glass Co., of Somerville. 
He died June 23, 1909 at Paterson, N. J. 

Isaac Holman Gregory, was born Dec. 8, 1825. He first 
went to work in an Athol store and when his mother moved 
her family to Cambridge he went with her and found 
employment with Abel Bruce. He made several changes in 
the course of years; at one time he was with Chandler & Co., 
large dry goods house on Summer Street, Boston, where he 
had charge of their wholesale department; after this he 
opened a store in Charlestown, N. H., and from there went to 
Keesville, N. Y. His health failing him, he gave up business 
and returned to Cambridge. When sufficiently recovered 
to resume business he went west for a Boston dry goods 
house and located in Chicago where he remained until his 
death, April 20, 1898. He was a bachelor. 

Martha Ann Gergory, was born Aug. 24, 1829. She 
married Wm. H. Ladd of Lynn, April 2, 1857. He was for 
a long time teacher and proprietor of the Chauncey Hall School 
in Boston. They had two children. She died Sept. 26, 1893, 
at Lynn, Mass. George Henry Gregory, died at the age of 
eleven years at Cambridge, and is buried in the Edwards 
tomb on Boston Common. 

Charles Augustus Gregory born Sept. 7, 1833. A sketch 
of him will be found in another chapter of this history. 

Frederick W. Gregory, the youngest son of General Franklin 
Gregory, was born Nov. 13, 1835. He has been engaged in 
the oil and starch business for the past forty-five years and 
has been in and seen the various changes of the oil business 
from the manufacture of sperm and whale oil to coal and 
petroleum oils, and its up and downs during that period. 
He was first, for about twenty-seven years, at Central Wharf, 
Boston, under the firm name of Speare, Gregory & Co., 
afterwards at 162 High Street under firm name of F. W. 
Gregory & Co., and having connections in Providence as 



THE GREGORY FAMILY 255 

large importers of olive oil; also a factory in Salem, Mass. 
for manufacture of vulcanized products for rubber goods 
manufacturers; also New York connections as partner. 
He married Delia M. Booth of Hobart, N. Y. He is now 
living at Waban. Mass. 



THE GODDARD FAMILY 

The English ancestor of the Goddards of New England 
was one Edward Goddard, a wealthy farmer of Norfolk, who. 
taking the parliament side in the Civil War, was reduced to 
poverty by the Cavaliers. His son William, "citizen and 
grocer," of London in 1666 embarked for the American wilder- 
ness with his wife and children, and landed in Watertown, 
Mass., settling on a small farm directly opposite the meeting- 
house almost in sight of the "homestall" of Richard Gale; 
though the two family streams did not unite until they had 
flowed, after that, a long time and a long way separately. 
William's son, Benjamin, "admitted to full communion, July 
31, 1687" lived in Charlestown. A second Benjamin, son of 
the last named, a "housewright," settled in Grafton, Mass., 
whence his son Samuel, removed to Royalston and settled upon 
a tract of wild land in the northwest part of the town about 
the year 1778. His was a representative household of the old 
Puritan stock; prayerful, austere, persistent, hard-working, 
faithful and ambitious. Most of the children inherited un- 
usual intellectual ability, and in spite of scanty means, several 
of the nine sons acciuired a liberal education. They all reached 
maturity but three, and were intelligent men of high character. 

Samuel Goddard, son of Benjamin Goddard of Grafton, 
Mass., was born in that town, and was by occupation and 
trade, a farmer, shoemaker and tanner. He learned his shoe- 
maker and tanner's trade near his father's homestead in Grafton. 
He served his time, three years, three months and three days. 
He married Elizabeth King, daughter of Henry King, Escj., of 
Sutton. She was a woman of refinement and unusual in- 
telligence and education for those days. 

He went to Royalston when about thirty years old, in 1778, 
and settled on the farm that remained in and was occupied 
by the Goddard family until about 1895. He first came with- 



256 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

out his family, and made a little clearing, and proceeded to 
erect a house in which he lived before a floor was made, doing 
his own cooking and taking his meals on a board laid across 
the sills. As soon as he had two rooms done, he went to Sutton 
and brought to this house, his wife and three children. He 
made his first sled with no tools but an ax. He built a tannery, 
and the people of Orange, Richmond and other towns used 
to bring hides there to be tanned. 

He continued clearing up the land, farming, shoemaking 
and tanning, and by the utmost economy and hard work got 
to be in comfortable circumstances for that place. He was 
interested in town affairs and was for several years one of the 
Selectmen and Assessors. 

The children of Samuel and Elizabeth (King) Goddard were: 
Henry, Samuel, Asahel, Salmon, James and Elizabeth who 
grew to matiirity, besides four others who died in infancy. Henry 
lived to be seventy-eight years of age and was always an in- 
valid after he was sixteen years old; the first part of his life he 
was a merchant, and kept store in a building erected about 
1790 for that purpose. One Avery afterwards kept store in 
the same place. Subsequently Samuel and Henry Goddard, 
Squire Peck and one Pierce kept store in the middle of the 
town near the site of the Rufus Bullock residence. They 
were burned out. 

Asahel, Henry and James went to Belfast, Maine, in 1803, 
and carried on a store there, but did not succeed well. Asahel 
died in 1806 of fever. Henry lived at Belfast thirty years, 
teaching, storekeeping and some of the time making pocket- 
books and weavers' reeds. In 1836, he returned to Massa- 
chusetts, lived a while in Millbury and then at Royalston, 
where he died of consumption in 1848. 

He was a man of unusual education for the times, a great 
reader, an ardent anti-slavery man, and always of some promi- 
nence in political affairs. He was the tallest of the family — 
about six feet. James went from Belfast to Messina, one 
hundred miles west of Lake Champlain, and engaged in the 
lumber business. He lived there some ten years, and then 
went to Little Valley in New York State, where he married 
Hannah Hay, who weighed three hundred pounds. He died in 
western New York. 



THE GODDARD FAMILY 257 

Hamuel Goddard, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (King) God- 
<laid, followed storekeeping with poor success, but always 
had taste and talent for preaching. He kept school a good deal, 
and was the first to propose a prayer meeting in the church 
at Royalston. He urged upon Mr. Lee, the minister, a monthly 
prayer meeting at the church. Mr. Lee at first refused it as a 
novelty, but finally assented and gave public notice of such 
meeting. The meeting was a success and was ever after kept 
up as monthly or weekly. When more than thirty years old 
he began to study for the ministry. He was first settled as a 
minister at Concord, N. H., and as missionary in that State. 
Subsequently he preached in Norwich, Vt., for many years; 
three years after he was stone blind, and died there in 1844. 
He was known all over that part of Vermont as "Father God- 
dard." 

Elizabeth Goddard, only daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth 
(King) Goddard, is described as a slender, pretty looking girl 
with blue eyes and auburn hair, and was from childhood of very 
delicate health. Squire Peck wanted to marry her, but her 
father opposed the match and told Mr. Peck that he did not want 
Elizabeth to marry him. Peck said that the Goddards would 
not have objected to him if he had been born with a singing 
book in his hand. 

She finally married him, June 5,''1794, and after living in 
Royalston some twelve years they moved to Montpelier, Vt., 
where she died in 1834 about sixty years of age. She is said 
to have been a woman of the finest and sweetest temper, and a 
devoted Christian. Two of her sons, Nahum and Asahel, 
b(jth born in Royalston, were eminent lawyers of Vermont, 
Asahel having been one of the judges of the Supreme Court of 
Vermont, and also Governor of the State. 

Elizabeth (King) Goddard, wife of Lieut. Samuel Goddard, 
died March 15, 1786, and he married, second, the widow Cathe- 
rine Parks of Gerry, June 29, 1790. 

Of the children of this second marriage four attained ma- 
turity: Benjamin, Tamar, Nathaniel and Danford. 

Tamar Goddard was born Feb. 10, 1795. She married 
Isaac Gale, March 10, 1813 and was the mother of ten children, 
among them Samuel C. Gale, Amory and Harlow A. 

Benjamin Goddard, son of Samuel and Catherine (Parks) 
Goddard, was l)orn in Royalston, and when a 



258 HISTORY OF KOYALSTON 

young man went to Worcester, where in 1822 he became the 
partner of Ichabod Washburn in the manufacture of woolen 
machinery and lead pipe, the firm being Washburn & Goddard, 
and they soon employed thirty men. They made the first 
condenser and long-roll spinning-Jack ever made in Worcester 
County, and among the first in the country. 

In 1831, they sold this business and moved to North ville 
on a small water privilege, where they made card wire and wire 
for screens. The business was in 1835 removed to its present 
location on Grove Street, and since then has grown to its pres- 
ent large proportion, contributing to the support directly and 
indirectly of perhaps one-sixth of the population of Worcester,, 
and known the world over. The partnership of Washburn 
& Goddard was dissolved in 1835. About 1840, Mr. Wash- 
burn bought the water power and property now occupied by 
the Worcester Wire Company at South Worcester, and Mr. 
Goddard took charge of the mill, which position he retained until 
his death, in 1867, and all three of his sons worked there, — 
Delano, who afterwards became the accomplished editor of the 
Boston Advertiser; Henry, who for many years was at the head 
of one of the important departments of the Washburn & Moen 
Manufacturing Co., and Dorrance, who for many years was 
the superintendent of the South Works of the company. 

Nathaniel Goddard, son of Samuel and Catherine (Parks) 
Goddard, was born in Royalston, Feb. 7, 1797. He was edu- 
cated in the common schools of Royalston, and then served 
an apprenticeship at the trade of boot and shoemaker. He 
went to Millbury, Mass., March 19, 1819, six years after the 
incorporation of Millbuiy, and immediately began the manu- 
facture of boots and shoes for the local trade. In 1826, his 
l:)rother Danford became a partner with him, under the firm 
name of N. & D. Goddard. This partnership continued until 
1834, when Danford retired from the firm. His next partner 
was Abner Rice, the firm being Goddard & Rice. Their busi- 
ness constantly increased, and they were having quite a large 
southern and western trade. They next turned their attention 
to the carrying of leather in connection with their boot and 
shoe business. lu 1851, the firm of Goddard & Rice was dis- 
solved and Ira N. Goddard became a partner with his father, 
the firm being N. Goddard & Son, and the business was con- 
ducted under this name until the death of Nathaniel Goddard, 



THE GODDARD FAMILY 259 

Dec. 8, 1887. He was a prominent man of affairs in the town, 
and was chosen to serve in various public offices. He was a 
member of the Congregational Church in which he served as 
deacon for more than fifty years. Throughout his long busi- 
ness career he maintained the character of an honest, upright 
man, and was ever found on the side of truth, justice and equal 
rights. He married in Royalston, Oct. 27, 1820, Rhoda Baker 
Gale, a lineal descendant of two prominent early settlers of 
Massachusetts — Richard Baker, who emigrated from Eng- 
land to Dorchester, Mass., in 1635; and Richard Gale, who 
settled in Watertown in 1640. She died in Millbury, Dec. 27, 
1883. Their children were: Julia A., Maria, Sophia and 
Ira Nathaniel. 

Julia A., born April 25, 1822, married Henry W. Benchley, 
who was lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts in 1858. She 
died July 30, 1854, leaving two children: Maria died at the 
age of ten years; Sophia married Rufus Wesson. 

Ira Nathaniel, only son of Nathaniel and Rhoda (Gale) 
Goddard,was born March 1, 1830. After obtaining his edu- 
cation in the common schools and academy of Millbury, he 
worked for his father in the shoe business; was admitted into 
partnership with his father as junior member, and on the death 
of his father succeeded to the entire business and parental 
estate. In addition to his shoe business he was agent for 
many life and fire insurance companies, was president of the 
Millbury savings bank, held many town offices, having been 
town clerk for sixty consecutive years, which position he held 
at the time of his death. 

He was elected to the Legislature in 1905, was prominent 
in the Congregational Church of which he was clerk for many 
years and also superintendent of the Sunday school. 

He married, June 26, 1856, Josephine C. Ryan, daughter 
of John and Caroline (Merritt) Ryan of Millbury, and they 
had two children: one died in infancy, and Harry M., born in 
Millbury, Aug. 3, 1859. 

Colonel Salmon Goddard, son of Samuel and Elizabeth' God- 
dard, was born in Royalston, Jan. 6, 1783. He succeeded his 
father on the farm and in the tannery business, and was a 
prominent citizen in his day. He represented the town in the 
General Court of 1838, served on the board of assessors for 
seven years, and was a leader in civic and military affairs. 



2(,0 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

He was married, Oct. 7, 1807 to Dolly Faulkner, the daughter 
of a sterling patriot who won distinction in the American army 
during the struggle for National Independence. She died June 
24, 1824, at the age of thirty-nine years and six months; he 
married, second, Lucy Goddard of Petersham, May 8, 1825, 
He was the father of eight children, all by the first wife; 
three died in infancy or early childhood. Ann nianied Clement 
Reed; Elizabeth died single; Dolly died at the age of eighteen 
years. 

Salmon Goddard, son of Salmon and Dolly (Faulkner) God- 
dard, was born March 25, 1816. For many years he was one 
of the most prosperous farmers of Royalston, serving as select- 
man, surveyor of highways, and in other town offices. He 
was originally an old line Whig, and a loyal supporter of the 
Republican party from the time of its formation until his 
death. He married Charlotte Augusta Day of Worcester, 
Oct. 31, 1842. They had three children: Mary C, born Feb, 
11, 1844; Lucy Maria, born June 3, 1849, and Herbert S., born 
April 11, 1852. 

Mary C. Goddard married Asaph M. White. Mr. White 
died Sept. 29, 1906, since which time Mrs. White has resided 
in Athol. 

Lucy Maria Goddard married Cyrus D. Davis, they lived in 
in Athol, Petersham and Keene, N. H., where she died in 1913. 
Herbert S. Goddard, son of Salmon Goddard, was born in 
Royalston, April 11, 1852. He was educated in the district 
schools of his native town. Powers Institute, Bernardston, Mass. 
and at the University of Minnesota. In early life, he became 
associated with Cyrus D. Davis, his brother-in-law, in carry- 
ing on lumbering operations in Royalston, Petersham, Athol 
and vicinity, and in connection with that business they operated 
a steam sawmill. 

In 1888, he settled in Athol, where he engaged in the manu- 
facture of pianoforte cases as a member of the firm of Goddard 
and Manning, and continued in that business until 1897. Since 
that time he has devoted a considerable portion of his time to 
town affairs and other business of a public nature. He has 
served the town of Athol on the board of selectmen, board of 
health, assessors, sewer commissioner and in other town offices. 
He was appointed one of the deputy sheriffs of Worcester County, 
by Sheriff Chamberlin in Oct. 1903, and holds that position at the 



THE GODDARD FAMILY 261 

present time. He is a member of the Baptist Church, and 
one of its deacons. 

On Sept. 15, 1880 he married Miss Sarah E. Forristall, 
daughter of Philander and Sally A. Forristall of Boston. They 
have two daughters: Charlotte Pitman, born Aug. 29, 1882; 
and Maud, born July 3, 1884. 

Charlotte P. is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, and 
taught mathematics and science at the Bennington, Vermont, 
High School and other institutions. She is now treasurer and 
business manager of the Skidmore School of Art at Saratoga 
Springs, N. Y. 

Maud completed her education at the University of Minne- 
sota, and married Ernest C. Thatcher. They live in Athol. 



THE FRANKLIN H. GODDARD FAMILY 

Edward Goddard, son of William Goddard (2) was born in 
Watertown, Mass., March 24, 1674 or '75. He was a noted 
schoolmaster in Watertown, Boston and Framingham, Town 
Clerk of Framingham ^for twenty years from 1720, and also 
held many other important offices. 

Simon Goddard, son of Edward Goddard (3) was born Feb. 
18, 1701, and died Nov. 3, 1758, aged fifty-eight years. 
He settled in Shrewsbury, Mass. about 1731. He married 
Susannah Cloyes of Framingham, Nov. 2, 1727. She died at 
Athol where some of her family settled, November, 1798, aged 
ninety-four years. 

Josiah Goddard, son of Simon Goddard (4), was born in 
Shrewsbury, Mass., Dec. 25, 1745. He settled in Athol, Mass., 
and married Ruth Raymond, Nov. 8, 1774 at Athol. He be- 
came a prominent citizen of Athol was magistrate, coroner and 
representative to the General Court. He was a prosperous 
farmer. He died at Athol, Oct. 23, 1801. His children were: 
Henry, Nathan, Susannah, baptized at Royalston, May 12, 1787, 
and Sally, Nahum, Ashbel, Eber, Daniel, Rhoda and Nabby. 

Ashbel Goddard, son of Josiah Goddard (5), was born in Athol 
about 1787. 

He married Betsey Pierce, daughter of William and Sally 
Pierce, Nov. 21, 1811. He followed his father's occupation 
and was a well-to-do farmer of Royalston. His children, 



262 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 



all born in Royalston were: Sally, born March 21, 1812; she 
married Samuel Wheeler of Dummerston, Vt., Aug. 25, 1846; 
Royal, born Jan. 8, 1814, died Oct. 17, 1839; Charles, born Nov. 
19, 1815; Mary Ann, born June 2, 1818; George Nelson, born 
Feb. 18, 1821, died Jan. 1, 1840; Elizabeth, born Sept. 1, 1825; 
Franklin Horatio, born Nov. 25, 1828; and William Bailey, 
born July 13, 1832. 

Charles Goddard, second son of Ashbel and Betsey Goddard, 
married Lucinda Bresson of Gardner, March 1, 1842. He was 
a farmer in Royalston and moved to Athol about 1857. He had 
two children: Nelson Royal, born April 15, 1843 and died 
Sept. 19, 1849; and Charles Virgil, born Feb. 1, 1845. 

Charles Virgil Goddard, son of Charles and Lucinda (Bresson) 
Goddard married Ella F. Norcross, Dec. 31, 1867. They had 
nine children of whom all but one are now living (1915). He 
enHsted in the Civil War in Co. E, Fifty-third Mass. Regiment. 
After the war, he engaged in teaming of freight from the shops 
at TuUy to Athol. He commenced the manufacture of blinds 
with Salmon Wakefield in a shop that stood where the plant 
of the Union Twist Drill Co. in Athol is now located. After 
one year he bought out Wakefield's interest in the business 
and ran it himself for about six years, employing about twenty- 
five hands. During about three years of this time the busi- 
ness was carried on in a shop known as the "Bioneer Mill" 
which he built on Laurel Street in Athol, and which was de- 
stroyed by fire and never rebuilt. 

Mary Ann Goddard, second daughter of Ashbel and Betsey 
(Bierce) Goddard, married James M. Cheney of Athol, June 14, 
1842. 

Mr. Cheney was engaged in the manufacture of sash and 
blinds in a shop where the Union Twist Drill Co. is now located 
in Athol, and later had a sawmill near the same place. Their 
children were: Sarah Elizabeth, born in 1848, married Lewis 
S. Billings, May 27, 1896. They have no children and reside 
in Athol where Mr. Billings is engaged in the livery business. 

William Wallace Cheneij, born March 11, 18^0, married 
Sadie Streeter of New York. They reside in Athol, where Mr. 
Cheney has always been engaged as a sash and ])lind maker. 

James Wesley Cheney, born in November, 1851, and died 
when thirteen years old. 



THE GODDARD FAMILY £63 

Frank Cheneij, born in 1861, died at the age of twenty-one 
years. 

Mary Baker Cheney, born Jan. 19, 1856, married Arthur F, 
Tyler, a prominent manufacturer of Athol, May 12, 1875. 
They had eight children. She died in 1901. 

Mary Ann (Goddard) Cheney died in January, 1902 antl James 
M. Cheney in 1903. 

Elizabeth Pierce Goddard, youngest daughter of Ashbel and 
Betsey (Pierce) Goddard, married Hiram Knapp of Franklin, 
Mass., Oct. 30, 1848, in Royalston, They resided in Athol for 
many years and had six children: Carrie Matilda, born Nov. 
26, 1849; she married Albert D. Pond in Athol, Jan. 8, 1869, 
and they still reside in Athol; Annie Lizzie, born Nov. 23, 
1849; she married Charles Eninger in Athol, Nov. 30, 1892 
and is now living in New York City; they had one child who 
lived but a few months; Josephine Lucinda, born Oct. 1, 1851 
and died Oct. 16, 1851; Charlie Gilbert, born Nov. 28, 1852, 
was drowned in the summer of 1859; Willie Elsworth, born 
Aug. 3, 1861; his home is in Athol; Emma Lois, born March 23, 
1863, married Henri M. Prescott, and they live in Winchen- 
don. Hiram Knapp died in Athol, Dec. 28, 1885 and Eliza- 
beth Goddard Knapp died in Athol Feb. 8, 1892. 

Franklin Horatio Goddard, son of Ashbel Goddard, was born 
in Royalston, Nov. 25, 1828. He was educated in the public 
schools of his native town and at Royalston Academy. When 
not in school he worked on his father's farm and in winter in 
the manufacture of straw hats. When a young man he left 
home and went to St. Louis, where he engaged in manufacturing. 
Just before the Civil War he enlisted in the Citizen Militia under 
General John C. Fremont and took an active part in the struggle 
which kept the State of Missouri in the Union when it seemed 
as if the secession sentiment was about to win. He was a 
prisoner of war in St. Louis for a short time. While in the west 
he taught school for a short time. Returning to Royalston, 
he engaged in farming until the infirmities of old 
age compelled him to retire from active work. He was for 
many years one of the highway surveyors of the town, an active 
worker and member of the Congregational Church, and an 
earnest temperance worker. He married Sarah Mellen of 
Nashua, N. H. He married (second) Aug. 24, 1898, Ada Smith, 



264- HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

daughter of Levi G. Smith of Winchendon. She was born 
April 3, 1858. He had no children by either marriage. 

William. Bailey Goddard, youngest child of Ashbel and Betsey 
Goddard, was born at Royalston, July 13, 1832. He married 
Fannie Earle of Phillipston. For a number of years he ran 
the stage line from Athol to Petersham and later from Royal- 
ston Centre to South Royalston, and resided for many years 
on the Common. He died April 5, 1893. 

Henry Goddard 2d married Anna Davis, April 28, 1802. 
They had seven children: Mahala, born Jan. 16, 1803, married 
Sherman Bacon of Orange, April 30, 1831; Josiah, born April 
6, 1805; Davis, born March 6, 1807; Anna and Amanda, twin 
daughters, born Jan. 11, 1809; Anna married Clement 0. Reed 
of Worcester, Jan. 8, 1834 and Amanda married John Cowdrey 
of Westmoreland, N. H., May 25, 1835; Susanna, born March 
22, 1811, died Oct. 13, 1827; and Sanford, born March 11, 1813. 

Josiah Goddard, married Miranda White in Royalston, Feb. 
3, 1829. When a young man he was in business in Boston 
for a time, after which he bought a farm in Orange where he 
lived until he died, Oct. 7, 1859. He had eight children, four 
boys and four girls, all of whom lived to manhood and woman- 
hood. He was a tall man, being six feet and four inches in 
height. He was a prominent man in his town and represented 
it in the Legislature. His oldest son. Dr. Josiah H. Goddard, 
was a leading physician of Franklin County, and during the 
forty years of his practice traveled with his team over two hun- 
dred thousand miles to answer calls. 

Sanford Goddard was married in Boston to Julia A. Kendall 
of Dummerston, Vt. in 1835. They had six children; three 
boys and three girls: Edward L. Goddard, born in Royalston, 
Jan. 31, 1836 and Elvira A., born in Royalston, Aug. 12, 1838. 
Sanford Goddard moved to Montague, Mass., in 1839, where 
the other four children were born. Edward L. Goddard en- 
listed in Co. K, 26th Mass. Regiment, Sept. 12, 1861. Elvira 
A. Goddard married George A. Kaulback, March, 1867, and he 
enlisted in Co. G, 10th Mass. Regiment in June, 1861 and 
served three years. 

Davis Goddard, the youngest son of Henry and Anna (Davis) 
Goddard was born in Royalston, March 6, 1807. He spent his 
boyhood days on a farm and received a common school edu- 
cation. When in his teens, he went to Boston, and, with his 



THE GODDARD FAMILY 265 

brother, started a light trucking business, which they continued 
a few years and found very profitable. He then went to North 
Orange, and opened a general country store, also acting as post- 
master. After a few years he moved to Orange, and in 1852, 
was appointed postmaster, a position which he held twenty- 
four years, when he resigned. He was elected town clerk in 
1846, and was re-elected each year until 1856; was chosen select- 
man in 1861 and held the chairmanship for seven years. He 
went to the General Court as representative in 1857 and as 
senator in 1858. He also served as county commissioner of 
Franklin County from 1864 until 1870. He was for many 
years a director of the Franklin Mutual Fire Insurance Com- 
pany of Greenfield, a charter director of Orange National Bank, 
and one of ten men who owned the Universalist Church at 
one time, and surrendered their claim to the Society. In poli- 
tics he was a Republican and in religion, a Universalist. He 
married Clara C. Ward of North Orange in 1834. They had 
no children. He was of an unassuming disposition, but still 
a leader among men, his advice on important matters being 
asked and always proving practical. 



THE PIERCE FAMILY 

The Pierce family of Royalston for the first century of 
the town's history was one of the most numerous families 
of the town, but to-day there is but one person bearing the 
name of Pierce who claims to be a resident of Royalston. 
The first member of the family to settle in Royalston was 
Capt. Gad Pierce, who was born in Lexington, Mass., June 
10, 1741. He married Mary Foster of Acton and removed 
to Royalston. He built his home on the west bank of the 
Lawrence, where he opened a public house, and had a good 
farm. He died Jan. 15, 1811, at the age of seventy. The 
children of Capt. Gad and Mary (Foster) Pierce, born in 
Royalston were: 

John, born Dec. 31, 1763, he married Hannah Sibley, June 
28, 1787; Gad, born Jan. 19, 1768; Jonathan, born July 4, 
1766, died July 29, 1838, aged 72; Molly, born Jan. 2, 1770; 
she married Josiah Piper, Jr., April 1, 1790, and died Jan. 24, 
1849; William, born March 4, 1772, married Sally Work^ 



266 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

May 12, 1791; Susan7iah, born March 5, 1774; Esther, born 
Feb. 16, 1776, married Robert Nichols, Sept. 1, 1796; Delight, 
born Mar. 19, 1778, married Wm. Sweetzer, Nov. 28, 1799; 
Joseph, born Aug. 23, 1782, married Patty Sharon, Feb. 22, 
1802; Silas, born Sept. 14, 1784, married Anna Chubb, Sept. 6, 
1807; Hannah, born April 24, 1780, married Elkanah Whipple. 

William Pierce from Acton, father of Capt. Gad, and two 
other sons, Zebulon and Eliphalet, came to town with or soon 
after, Capt. Gad Pierce, and made settlements in the same 
neighborhood. But they all early removed and left no 
representatives. 

William Pierce, third son of Capt. Gad and Maiy (Foster) 
Pierce married Sally Work, May 12, 1791. They had ten 
children: Betsey and Sally, twin daughters, bom in November, 
1791, Wilham, born April 19, 1794, Martha, born April 1, 
1796; Jonas, born Feb. 15, 1798; Mary, born March 5, 
1800, Royal, born March 27, 1802, Royal, bora March 26, 
1804, George, born Aug. 25, 1805 and James, born Oct. 2, 
1807. Betsey married Ashbel Goddard, Nov. 21, 1811 and 
was the mother of Franklin H. Goddard. Maiy married 
Leonard R. Turner, June 21, 1834 and was the mother of 
Mrs. Joseph T. Nichols. 

Jonathan Pierce, second son of Capt. Gad and Mary 
(Foster) Pierce was born July 4, 1766. He married Huldah 
Sibley,- daughter of Jonathan Sibley, one of the early settlers 
of Royalston. He was the "portly" post-man to whom 
Governor Bullock referred in his Centennial address, who 
drove the post and carried the mail between Worcester and 
Keene, through Royalston, bringing the weekly papers, the 
regular politics, and the distant gossip from the outside 
world. This mission he performed for nearly a quarter of a 
century, commencing about the year 1800. 

Jonathan and Huldah (Sibley) Pierce had twelve children 
of whom the three first born died in infancy; the others were: 
Jonathan Sihley, born June 20, 1796, died June 13, 1829; 
Huldah, born April 20, 1799, died July 25, 1823; Cynthia, 
born Sept. 12, 1801, died May 24, 1822; Sumner, born Feb. 
14, 1803, died March 8, 1878; Horace, born Dec. 15, 1804, 
died May 3, 1883; Paul, born March 8, 1808, died Oct. 27 
1884; Columbus, born 




IIORACK PIRRCK 



MILO H. PIKRCK 




FRANKLIN II. GODDARD 



THE PIERCE FAMILY 267 

ChorloUe, born June 4, 1812, died May 3, 1893; Eunice, 
born Sept. 20, 1814, died Oct. 13, 1891. 

Horace Pierce, son of , Jonathan and Huldah (Sibley) 
Pierce, was born in Royalston, Dec. 15, 1804. He was for 
many years a manufacturer of wooden pails and buckets, his 
mill being in the north part of the town. At one time his son 
Milo was associated with him, the firm name l^eing Horace 
Pierce & Son. He married Mary Blood, daughter of William 
and Betsey (Frye) Blood, Oct. 23, 1828. Their children were: 
Milo Horace, born June 28, 1829; Mary Louise, born August 5, 
1831, died August 29, 1849, William Watson, born August 11, 
1833, died May 27, 1836; Leander Frye, born March 28, 1836, 
died Dec. 29, 1836; Henry Leander, born Nov. 20, 1837, died 
April 29, 1863; Elizabeth Ann, born Oct. 10, 1841, died Sept. 10, 
1849, Adelia Frye, born Aug. 14, 1844, died Aug. 24, 1849; 
Emma Louise, born March 5, 1849; Junius Ebenezer, born 
Oct. 28, 1850. 

Milo Horace Pierce, son of Horace and Mary (Blood) 
Pierce, was bom June 28, 1829. He was in business with his 
father in Royalston until 1869 under the firm name of Horace 
Pierce & Son, manufacturers of wooden pails and buckets. 
In the year 1869 he went to Baxter Springs, Kansas to be 
associated in business with William Blood, a brother of his 
mother. A few years later he was joined by his brother, 
Junius E. Pierce. They went to Texas and for a number of 
years did business in Dennison and Gainesville, under the 
firm name of M. H. Pierce and Brother. His health failed 
in 1892, when he returned to New England, and died at the 
home of his sister, Emma Pierce Stow, in Granville, Mass., 
Dec. 3, 1892. While in Kansas and Texas he was prominent 
in church and civic affairs and highly esteemed for his 
business integrity. 

Junius E. Pierce was active in the deve'opment of the mer- 
cantile business of the firm and the towns where they were 
located. They were then frontier towns of the Southwest 
calling for men with strong convictions and the courage to 
stand for them. He was married Dec. 20, 1881 to Mildred 
A. Beety. They had one son who is Lieut. Junius Pierce? 
Coast Artillery, stationed at Fort McDowell, Angel Island' 
San Francisco Harbor, Cal. Junius E. Pierce died Oct. 
20, 1896. 



268 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Emma Louisa Pierce, youngest daughter of Horace and 
Mary (Blood) Pierce, was a well-known teacher in Royalstort 
and Athol for a number of years. She was also a member of 
the Royalston School Committee, and for a short time 
librarian of the public library. She married Marshall V. 
Stow of Granville, Mass., Sept. 6, 1888, and that town is 
their home. 

Charlotte Pierce, daughter of Jonathan and Huldah 
(Sibley) Pierce, bom June 4, 1812, married Lucien Bryant of 
Templeton, Mass., April 24, 1833. She had two sons. Rev. 
Albert Bryant, a prominent clergyman and Solon Bryant, 
a merchant, and a daughter, Eunice Biyant, who was a well- 
known school teacher, and married W. F. Sawyer, a prom- 
inent druggist of Boston. She married, second, John Pierce,, 
a widower, Nov. 30, 1848. They lived on a farm in the 
south part of the town, and later for many yeare ori 
Royalston Common. She died May 3, 1893. 



THE JONAS PIERCE FAMILY 

Jonas Pierce, son of William and Sally (Work) Pierce, was 
born in Royalston, Feb. 15, 1798. He was a farmer and lived 
in Royalston. April 19, 1826, he mamed Fanny Earl, who 
was born June 17, 1804. They had ten children, all born in 
Royalston. William Pierce, born Feb. 19, 1827; he married 
Miss Lucretia Robinson, had one child Henrietta, now living 
in Norwood, Mass.; he died in Georgia in 1903; George 
Pierce, born August 11, 1828, died March 4, 1841; Henriette 
Pierce, born Nov. 14, 1830, married D. H. Haywood in 1860 
and went West, had two children, Herbert and Bell; James W. 
Pierce, born Jan. 28, 1832. He Hved in Fitchburg, Mass. 
where he was in the rattan cane business until 1861, when 
he went West to Denver City, and for the past thirty-five 
years his residence has been in Washington, Kansas, where 
he was engaged in mercantile business until 1911, since 
which time he has been retired from business. 

He married Mary E. Langdon in Hartford, Conn., May 
23, 1883; they have four children; two daughters, both 
married, one son in college in Lincoln, Nebraska, and one 
son in business; Jonas Blake Pierce, born Oct. 28, 1832, 





GKORGE PIKRCH 



gb:orok k. pierck 





MRS. LUCIKN LORD 



MRS. :m.\rv pikrck turner 



THE PIERCE FAMILY 269 

married Betsey Warren; he died June 3, 1883; no children; 

Charles Pierce, born July 11, 1835, married Kellogg; 

they had four children, three daughters all of whom are living; 
he died August, 1905; Persis Witt Pierce, born March 19, 
1836, died in infancy July 23, 1836; Sophia G. Pierce, born 
July 1, 1840, married Dr. Chester Stockwell, and had four 
children; she died August 24, 1905, in Springfield, Ma-^s. 
George Pierce, the second, was born Sept. 8, 1841; he lives 
in Springfield, Mass. and has one son; Willard Pierce, born 
Oct. 27, 1851, married in Springfield and died in Hartford, 
Conn, in 1890. No children. 

George Pierce, son of William and Sally (Work) Pierce was 
born in Royalston August 25, 1805. His life extended over 
nearly the whole of the 19th century, during which time he 
was a prominent factor in the life of the town. He was a 
well-known schoolmaster and taught in the northeast 
district where he had one hundred scholars. For many 
years he was a teamster to and from Boston before the day 
of railroads, driving an eight horse team and having for his 
load to Boston, pails, furniture, chairs, etc., from the Royal- 
ston shops, while on his return trip he brought great loads of 
goods for the Royalston stores which were then doing an 
extensive business. When the railroad was opened through 
the town that business was ended, and he became a farmer 
and butcher and dealer in cattle. In the early forties he 
purchased the General Gregory property on Royalston 
Common, which was his home for about half a century. 
On the organization of the Royalston Grenadiers he was 
chosen as First Lieutenant, and on the resignation of Capt. 
Cyrus B. Reed he was chosen Captain, which oflfice he held 
as long as the company existed. He was the moderator of 
Royalston town meetings for twenty-five years or more. In 
politics he was first a Whig and later was a staunch Democrat, 
for many years, being a leader of the few Democrats in town. 
He married Delia Peck of Royalston, Sept. 17, 1835. The 
children of George and Delia (Peck) Pierce were as follows: 
George Everett, Lyman Elliott, Edwin F., Warren Albert, 
Delia M., Leonard T., and Webster. 

George Everett Pierce, born Feb. 25, 1836, was the oldest 
son. He has been engaged the most of his life in the cattle 
business, commencing to buy cattle when but twelve years 



2JQ HISTORV OF ROYALSTON 

old. He used to buy up oxen and take them to the Brighton 
market, going to Vermont, and on some trips Ijuying as many 
as four hundred head. He kept up this business most of the 
time from 1857 to 1892. Early in the Civil War, he, with a 
number of other Royalston men, was drafted and paid a 
commutation of 1300. About 1861 he purchased of P. C. 
Tyler a stock of store goods at South Royalston, and had 
been started only three months when he was ])urned out, 
but continued the business about two years, having charge 
of the Post Office. He also went to Chicago about 1871, 
where he was engaged in the chair business for about two 
years. He has also done quite an extensive business in 
lumbering during the last twenty-five years. In 1899 he 
married Emma A. Reed, daughter of William Reed of Royal- 
ston. They were married in February of that year and she 
died in December of the same year. He was a prominent 
town officer having served on the Board of Assessors for 
many years. (He is the only person by the name of Pierce 
who is now a resident and taxpayer in the town of Royal- 
ston.) Was Town Treasurer from 1888 to 1899, and was 
collector of taxes for several years. 

Lyman Elliot Pierce, second son of George and Delia 
(Peck) Pierce, was born Nov. 17, 1837. His business career 
began in Boston, as an employee of Joseph W. Merriam in 
the new Faneuil Hall market. Afterward he became a 
member of the firm of E. K. Goodall & Co., butter merchants 
in Faneuil Hall market, and having severed his connection 
with this concern, he accepted a position in the Chamber of 
Commerce. 

For about thirty years he chaperoned the annual Pierce 
parties to Moosehead and Rangeley lakes. He was past Emi- 
nent Commander of the Coeur-de-Lion Commandery of Knights 
Templar of Charlestown, and an old member of Siloam Lodge 
of Odd Fellows. He married Annie Kirke of Nova Scotia, and 
resided in Melrose, Mass. He died in 1900, while attending a 
convention of butter-makers at Lincoln, Neb. 

Edivi7i F. Pierce, third son of George and Delia (Peck) 
Pierce, was born July 5, 1839. He went to work for the 
Heywood Chair Company in Gardner when fourteen years 
old, and then to Springfield, Mass., where he was employed in 
the United States Armory for two or three years. He then 



THE PIERCE FAMILY 271 

went back into the chair business with Parker, White & Co., 
in their Boston store. He went to Chicago about 1864, and 
started a store, where he remained until 1871, when he sold 
out the spring before the great fire and returned to Boston, 
where he has ever since been engaged in the wholesale 
jobbing business in chairs. He married Elnora E. Barrett, 
of South Hadley, Mass., in 1868, and married, second, Sarah 
E. Davis in 1891, at Somerville, Mass. They have cwo 
daughters: Mary Ellen Pierce and Margaret Pierce. 

Warren Albert Pierce, fourth son of George and Delia 
(Peck) Pierce, was born Nov. 28, 1840. When he first left 
home he was employed in the store of Oakes and Newton in 
Athol. He then went west, where he was a traveling sales- 
man in the boot and shoe business for many years. He 
married Fannie Lay of Chicago, which was their home there- 
after. He died in March, 1912 and Mrs. Pierce in 1915. 

Delia M. Pierce, only daughter of George and Delia (Peck) 
Pierce, was born in Royalston Sept. 29, 1844. She was for 
several years a well-known teacher in the schools of Royalston 
and Athol, and it was while a teacher in the Athol schools 
that she became acquainted with Lucien Lord, a prominent 
young man of Athol, to whom she was married Sept. 31, 1868. 

She was for many years one of the leading women of 
Athol, and the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. Lord on 
Chestnut Hill Avenue became a popular center of social life, 
where frequent gatherings of their church and Sunday school 
were held, and where all of their many guests were enter- 
tained in a most hospitable and generous manner. From the 
organization of the Second Unitarian Church, Mrs. Lord was 
one of the most active and prominent members of that 
church, and also of the Woman's Alliance connected with it, 
and all the interests of those organizations received from her 
the heartiest support. She was also a charter member of the 
Athol Woman's Club in which she always took a deep interest. 
Mr. and Mrs. Lord had two children: a son, Edwin Everett, 
born in 1869 and died in 1874, and a daughter, Delia Eliza- 
beth, born Feb. 9, 1878. She married Carl Fletcher of Athol, 
Oct. 8, 1901, and their home was in Baldwinville, where Mrs. 
Fletcher died July 20, 1903. Mrs. Delia (Peirce) Lord, died 
March 6, 1915. 



2J2 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Leonard T. Pierce, fifth son of George and Delia Pierce, 
was born in Royalston, July 25, 1874. He went to work for 
his brother Lyman E. in Boston, and after five or six years 
returned to Royalston. 

He was a locomotive engineer and was employed on the 
Fitchburg Railroad for about ten years. 

Webster E. Pierce, youngest child of George and Delia 
Pierce, was born in 1851. He has always been engaged in the 
chair business. Previous to the great fire of 1871, he was in 
business in Chicago; since that time has been connected with 
his brother, Edwin F., in Boston. He married Sadie E. 
Sanborn; they have no children. 



THE PERKINS FAMILY 

A family that has exerted a great influence for good, not 
only on the people of Royalston and their sons and daughters, 
but has carried cheer and help to the uttermost parts of the 
world, is the family of the loved second pastor of the old 
First Congregational Church of Royalston, Rev. Ebenezer 
Perkins. Probably in no other family connected with Royal- 
ston history is the great principle of heredity more strikingly 
illustrated than in various members of this family. The 
ancestors of this family, David Perkins and Nabby Conant 
of Beverly, Mass., were married there Nov. 2, 1783. Ebenezer 
Perkins was their fourth child, and was born in Topsfield, 
Mass., July 4, 1794. He was graduated at Dartmouth 
College and afterwards studied for the ministry. He was 
ordained, and settled at Royalston in 1819. That same year 
he had married Am.elia Parish, the daughter of Rev. Ariel 
Parish, D.D. of Manchester, Mass. He lived in Royalston 
all the rest of his life, having no other pastorate than the one 
at this place. He was minister of the church for twenty- 
eight years. 

A granddaughter in writing of him says: "It may be 
interesting to note that this pastor, whose salary never 
exceeded $600 a year, sent three of his sons through college. 
After his eldest boy reached the age of seven, his salary was 
reduced to $500, so that the children 'should not grow up in 
idleness.' " The children of Rev. Ebenezer and Amelia 



THE pt;rxins family 273 

(Parisli) Perkins were: Ariel Ebenezer Parish, born Oct. 11, 
1820; Hannah Amelia, born Jan. It), 1822; Mary Colman, 
born June 14, 1823; Daniel Choate, l^orn Nov. 10, 1825; 
Benjamin Conant, born Jan. 23, 1827; Joseph Lee, born Nov, 
20, 1828; Arai-ette -GreenJeaf, born April 29, 1832, 

Rev. Dr. Ariel E. P. Perhuis, the oldest son of Rev. 
Ebenezer and Amelia (Parish) Perkins, was born in Royalston, 
•Oct. 11, 1820. He attended the town schools, studied with 
his father, and entered Phillips Andover Academy, was graduated 
at Amherst College in 1840, and prepared for the ministry in 
the theological school at Andover, Mass. He was teacher in 
an academy at Keene, N. H., after spending a year of study 
with his father. While in Keene he was tutored by Rev. Z. L. 
Barstow, D.D., who gave him the fruit of his years of 
experience. He was ordained at Phillipston, Mass., and 
settled as pastor over the Congregational church of that 
town Sept. 18, 1844, which he sei-ved until May, 1855. In 
September of that year he received a call to the pastorate of 
the Congregational Church at Ware, Mass., which he accepted 
arnd commenced his pastorate Dec, 5, 1855, and after a 
service of thirty years as pastor retired, and went to Worcester 
to live, where he died June 27, 1899, 

Dr. Perkins was a type of the old-fashioned New Eng- 
lander, thoroughly orthodox, but not dogmatic or illiberal, and 
his sermons were of the kind that became thoroughly instilled 
into the minds of his hearers. He was one of the corporate 
members of the American Board of Foreign Missions. He 
received the degree of D.D. from Williams College in 1870. 
In 1851 he married Emily Pearson of Hanover, N. H., who 
died four years later, and in 1856 he married Susan 0. Poor, 
daughter of Henry Poor of Peabody, Mass. 

His children by Emily (Pearson) Perkins were: Edward, 
born Sept. 17, 1851, died Oct. 2, 1851; Herbert Boardman, 
born June 24, 1853, he was graduated at the Mass. Institute of 
Technology, was Professor of Mathematics in Lawrence 
University, Appleton, Wis., and later Throop Institute, 
Pasadena, Cal., where he still lives, having retired from 
teaching. 

Children by Susan (Poor) Perkins: Henry Poor, born 
Dec. 24, 1856, was graduated at Williams College and Hartford 
Theological Seminary, missionary in North China until 1910; 



274 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

now living in Arkansas with a son; Charles Albert, born Oct. 31, 
1858, was graduated at Williams College and Johns Hopkins 
University, Professor of Electrical Engineering at University 
of Tennesee. Rose Standish, married Dr. L. M. Nason and 
with him living in Worcester; Daniel Choate. born July 21, 
1864, died Jan 1, 1870; Franklin Parish, bom Aug. 15, 1866, 
died March 8, 1870; Alfred Pearson, born Sept. 15, 1868, 
was graduated at Williams College, Field Secretary of National 
U. S. Chamber of Commerce. 

Sketches of Daniel Choate Perkins and Benjamin Conant 
Perkins will be found in the chapter on Medical and Legal 
Profession. 

Hannah Amelia Perkins, oldest daughter of Rev. Ebenezer 
and Amelia (Parish) Perkins married Rev. Charles Louis 
Woodworth, Nov. 28, 1854. He was a graduate of Amherst 
College, a teacher in the Royalston schools, and became a 
prominent Congregational minister. He was Chaplain of the 
27th Mass. Regiment in the Civil War, Secretary of the 
American Missionary Association and the author of several 
books. They had five children, and resided for many years in 
Watertown, Mass. Mr. Woodworth was present at the 
Centennial Anniversary in 1865 and responded to the toast, 
"the fellows who stole the hearts of our daughters.^' 

Annette Greenleaf Perkins, youngest child of Rev. 
Ebenezer Perkins, born April 29, 1832, married Nov. 25, 1854 
Horatio Danforth Newton. They had four children. 

Joseph Lee Perkins, youngest son of Rev. Ebenezer and 
Amelia (Parish) Perkins, was born in Royalston, Nov. 20, 
1828. He was the only one of the four sons to remain in 
Royalston. He attended school in his native town and at 
Phillipston. He was married Jan. 3, 1855 to Flora H. Perry 
of Royalston. When a young man he worked in Phillipston 
and Athol. In Royalston he was engaged in the lumber 
business. He moved to Fitchburg in 1870, where he was 
bookkeeper for the New England Machine Co., managed by 
Sylvanus Sawyer, and later he was engaged in the real 
estate business with Asa S. Lawton for twenty years. He 
was a member of the R oilstone Congregational Church, and a 
constant attendant at its services. He died Dec. 5, 1890, 
and his wife Flora H. Perkins died July 23, 1907. The 



THE PERKINS FAMILY 275 

children of Joseph Lee and Flora H. (Perry) Perkins, all 
of whom were born in Royalston were: 

Josephine L. Perkins, born in Royalston Jan. 22, 1856. 
She was for a number of years a teacher in South Africa. 
She married Rev. Wm, 0. Ballantine, M.D. of India, where 
they have been engaged in missionary work ever since. They 
have five children, Joseph H., AHce J., Benj. D., Henry F., 
and John P. 

Joseph H. and Alice who married Max David Kerjassoff, 
live in Tokio, Japan; the other boys are, one in the Philippines, 
a second attending school in Boston and the third is a student 
in Harvard College. Julia A. Perkins, born in Royalston, 
June 30, 1858, married Nov. 20, 1889 Charles A. Willey of 
New York, and their home is in Flushing, N. Y.; they have 
no children. 

Benjamin H. Perkins, born Jan. 18, 1863, married May W. 
Brown of Nantucket, Jan. 6, 1897; they have three children: 
Benj. C, Henry C, and Mary C. Mr Perkins is one of the 
leading boot and shoe dealers of Fitchburg. 

Joseph Frederick Perkins, was born in Royalston, Feb. 2, 
1865. He was educated at Williams College and Hartford 
Theological Seminary. He was for four years a Missionary of the 
Presbyterian Board in Brazil, South America, and married in 
1893 Gertrude Storrs of Hartford. Conn. He died Sept. 23, 
1895. 



THE NEWTON FAMILY 

Richard Neuion, the immigrant ancester of the Newton 
family of Royalston, was born in England about 1601. He 
was one of the early settlers of Sudbury, Mass., and was a 
proprietor of that town as early as 1639. 

Nathan Brigham Newton, son of Hezekiah Newton, was 
the first of the Newton family to settle in Royalston. He 
was born in Rutland, Mass., March 28, 1760. When young 
he resided at Rutland and Paxton. He was a cordwainer 
or shoemaker by trade, and was a soldier in the Revolution, 
a fifer in Captain Joshua Whitney's company, Colonel 
Josiah Whitney's regiment, in 1778, at the Rhode Island 
campaign. In 1786 he bought a farm of fifty-one acres of 



276 HISTORY OF ROTALSTO-lSr 

Nathan and Nabby Wheeler in Royalston, and probably 
moved there soon after. The Royalston Memorial of 1865 
says that he "first settled on the west bank of the Lawrence^ 
near where Deacon Partridge now lives. He afterwards 
removed and located on the highlands east of the river 
where now stands the goodly farmhouse and buildings of 
his son, Col. Elmer Newton," 

He married Mary Stewart, and had a family of twelve 
children as follows: Danforth, bom Sept. 13, 1781, died 
Sept. 19, 1803; Willard, born March 6, 1783; George, born 
May 16, 1785; Hezekiah, born Feb. 12, 1787; Haniet, born 
Jan. 25, 1789; Sophia, born June 1, 1791; Elmer, born April 
17, 1793; Phinehas, born Feb, 28, 1795; Lucinda, bom July 8, 
1797, married Ephraim Mirick, Jr., of Princeton, Nov. 2, 1819; 
Mary, born July 15, 1800, man-ied John Whitney of Prince- 
ton, Sept. 17, 1822; Horatio, born June 11, 1803; Lucy, born 
June 16, 1804, married Bamett Bullock Nov. 27, 1828, 
Nathan Brigham Newton, ched Dec. 18, 1843; his Avife died 
Dec. 15, 1842, aged 82 years. 

George Newton, third son of Nathan Brigham, bom May 16, 
1785, died June 6, 1817, and Horatio died in infancy; Harriet, 
the oldest daughter of Nathan Brigham and Mary (Stewart) 
Newton, married Calvin Bullock of Princeton, Nov. 13, 
1813; Sophia mamed John Fay of Camden, District of Maine, 
Oct. 8, 1816. 

Willard Newton, second son of Nathan Brigham and Mary 
(Stewart) Newton, was bom March 6, 1783. He married, 
Dec. 10, 1811, Phebe Emerson of Royalston. Their children 
born in Royalston were: Horatio Danforth, Nancy Emerson, 
Lucy, who married Wheeler Poland of W^inchendon, George, 
who went to Missouri, and Phoebe, who dropped dead 
while combing her hair when she was nineteen years old. 

Horatio Danforth Newton, son of Willard Newton, was 
born in Royalston, Oct. 5, 1812. He married Nov. 25, 1851, 
Annette Perkins, daughter of Rev. Ebenezer Perkins. Their 
children were: Willard Hazen, Ebenezer Perkins, Horatio 
Standish, Annette G. 

Willard Hazen Newton, son of Horatio Danforth Newton, 
was born in Royalston, Oct. 18, 1857. He attended the 
pubhc schools of his native town. During his youth he 
assisted his father in farming and lumbering, and later in 




COLONEL ELMER NEWTON 



THE NEWTON FAMILY 277 

life became a farmer and lumberman, carrying on a large 
business in the manufacture and selling of lumber and wood; 
he is a member of the firm of Newton & Davis. He has 
served on the board of school committee, and been road 
commissioner. He married Oct. 1, 1878, Stella Partridge, 
daughter of J. Milton Partridge of Royalston. They have 
one son, Leon Willard, born Dec. 27, 1884. He attended 
Cushing Academy, and is engaged in the teaming business. 

Ehenezer Perkins Newton, born Aug. 18, 1858, always 
lived on the home place; he was married Aug. 23, 1911, to 
Florence M. Robbins of Worcester. He died Dec. 28, 1912. 

Horatio Standish Newton, born May 11, 1866, married 
April 22, 1894, Mary E. Russell, and they have one son, 
Edgar Horatio, born March 31, 1898. Annette G. Newton, 
born June 25, 1868, married Charles L. Mayne; they live 
in Coffeeville, Kansas, and have one son, Joseph Ford Mayne, 
born July 19, 1897. 

Col. Elmer Newton, fifth son of Nathan Brigham and 
Mary (Stewart) Newton, was born at Royalston, April 17, 
1793. He succeeded to the fine farm of his father, which was 
his home during a long life, in which he was identified with 
the interests of the town and church, and was one of Royal- 
ston's worthiest citizens, holding many positions of trust 
and honor. He died March 26, 1880 at the age of almost 
eighty-seven years. Resolutions on his death were voted 
at the annual town meeting as follows: 

"Whereas Divine Providence has just removed from us by 
death one of our ol le.-st, best known and worthiest townsmen, 
Col. Elmer Newton, therefore. Resolved that we the citizens 
of Royalston in town meeting assembled on the fifth day of 
April, 1880, do hereby express our sincere sense of a great 
loss in the decease of so valuable a fellow citizen, so long and 
so thoroughly identified with the interests of the town." 

He married Adaline Estabrook of Holden, Dec. 30, 1822. 
Their children, all born in Royalston were: Sophia Fay, born 
Oct. 25, 1824; Charles Homer, born May 13, 1828; Phinehas 
Stewart, born Aug. 20, 1832; Martha Jones, born May 28, 
1836; Edward Elmer, born Feb. 5, 1841; George Mirick, born 
Sept. 7, 1843. Martha Jones Newton and George Mirick 
Newton both died young. 



2^8 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Charles H. Newton, oldest son of Col. Elmer Newton, was 
born May 13, 1828. He received his education in the public 
schools of Royalston, at Westminster Academy and a school 
at Worcester. After completing his education and soon 
after becoming of age he bought out the general store of 
Joseph Estabrook on the Common and associated his brother 
Phinehas S. Newton with him, and they conducted for many 
years the store and a palm leaf hat business, Charles looking 
after the home business and Phinehas driving a team through 
quite a number of Massachusetts and New Hampshire towns, 
dealing with the women and children who braided hats and 
wove shaker hoods. He was postmaster of the Royalston 
Post Office from 1856 to 1870 and town clerk 1855 to 1865. 
In 1870 the store was sold to Obadiah Walker, and Charles 
H. Newton moved to Fitchburg, becoming a member of the 
Fitchburg Flour Co., in which he remained as long as the 
company continued in business. He then entered the Beovil 
mills as bookkeeper, and later became treasurer of the company, 
remaining in the company until the mill was sold to the 
American Woolen Co., a period of twenty-three years. He 
was beloved and respected by many friends and was an 
esteemed member of the Rollstone Congregational Church 
of Fitchburg. He married Harriet Meade of Worcester, 
who died April 11, 1886. He married, second, Aug. 4, 1889, 
Adelle Estabrook, daughter of Samuel Estabrook of Ashby, 
Mass. The children of Charles H. and Harriet (Meade) 
Newton were: Charles M., born June 20, 1856; Homer E., 
born May 10, 1860, died June 5, 1876 and Llewellyn, born 
July 20, 1865, died March 21, 1871. The children of Charles 
H. and Adelle (Estabrook) Newton were Ruth, Doris and 

Phinehas Stewart. Mr. Newton died . 

Phinehas S. Newton, third son of Col. Elmer and Adaline 
(Estabrook) Newton, was born in Royalston, Aug. 20, 1833, 
and was educated in the public schools of his native town 
and at Westminster Academy. He was associated with his 
brother Charles H. in a general store business on the Common 
for many years, and also in the palm leaf hat business; when 
the store was sold in 1870 Phinehas retained the palm leaf 
business, and had a factory near the blacksmith shop. For 
many years he drove a team through the neighboring towns 
of Massachusetts and the towns of southern New Hampshire, 




ED\VARD ELMER NEWTON 

PHINEHAS S. NEWTON 

CHARLES H. NEWTON 



THE NEWTON FAMILY 279 

delivering palm leaf to the women folks who braided it into 
hats. He was also connected with George B. Burnett in 
the palm leaf business with a factory in Amherst, Mass. and 
a store in New York City. He has always lived on the 
home place, which is one of the few farms in town owned 
and occupied by a member of the family originally settling 
the place. He is a Republican and was elected Represen- 
tative to the Legislature for this district in 1898. In 1911 
he presented the town of Royalston with a public library 
building which cost $10,000, and which bears the name of 
the Phinehas S. Newton Library. He was never married. 

Edward Elmer Newton, was born Feb. 5, 1841. He 
married Martha Cole of Westmoreland, N. H., and was 
settled on the home farm where he spent his life. He died 
March 17, 1887. 

Hezekiah Newton, son of Nathan B. and Mary (Stewart) 
Newton, was born in Royalston, Feb. 12, 1787. He left 
his Royalston home about 1808 and went to Boston, where 
he was engaged in mercantile business until 1832 when he 
returned to Royalston, and bought the place now the summer 
home of Miss Edith Metcalf; the original owner of this farm 
was Major John Norton. Although having but a limited 
school education he acquired by reading and association with 
educated people a large fund of available knowledge, which 
made him a valuable and respected citizen. He was very 
fond of farming; and working with more vigor than discretion, 
became disabled in his fifty-fifth year. He died ten years later, 
Oct. 26, 1852, at his home in Royalston. He was married in 
Boston, July 20, 1817 to Ehza Lewis; she was born in Danvers, 
July 29, 1788 and died in Leominster, Jan. 7, 1862. 

Their children were: EHza Lewis, born in Boston, Feb. 23 
1819; she died in Leominster, April 8, 1861, unmarried; 
Harriet Bullock, born in Boston, March 31, 1821, died in 
Boston, May 14, 1825; George Brigham, born in Boston, 
March 17, 1823, married Jane Stone, Marblehead, Feb. 26, 
1852, died in Marblehead, Jan. 12, 1897; Mary Stewart, born 
in Boston, May 16, 1825, died in Brookline, Mass. June 25> 
1877, unmarried; William Lewis, born in Boston, Jan. 5 
1828, died in Boston Oct. 12, 1829; Wm. Lewis born in 
Boston, June 13, 1830, died in Boston, Sept. 23, 1830; 
Harriet Bullock, born in Royalston, April 13, 1832 married 



280 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Daniel W. Phelps of Leominster, Aug. 26, 1857, died in 
Brookline, Mass., Jan. 5, 1890; Gorhani Palfrey, born in 
Royalston, June 3, 1874, died in Royalston, May 27, 1850; 
Sara Derby, born in Royalston, Mar. 11, 1837. Died in 1915. 
George Brigham Newton, son of Hezekiah Newton, was 
born March 17, 1823. The limitations of his early years for- 
bade his having a liberal education, and he chose a mercan- 
tile life; after spending four years preparing for it in the 
country stores of Royalston he went to Boston where he 
had a position in the same line of business. Later he engaged 
in the shoe industry in Marblehead, Mass. He died Jan. 
12, 1897. 



THE CUTLER FAMILY 

An old Royalston family of which there are no representa- 
tives bearing the family name in town to-day, but which by 
marriage became interwoven with many of the old and 
prominent families of the town, and has sent out members, 
who have become distinguished in other communities, is the 
Cutler family. The first of the family to become connected 
with Royalston history was Jonathan Cutler, second child of 
Ebenezer Cutler of Sutton, and who was baptized there Oct. 3, 
1737. He married Elizabeth Holman, daughter of Stephen 
Holman of Sutton, Oct. 20, 1757. He settled in Royalston 
sometime between 1764 and 1768. He died in Royalston, 
Sept. 27, 1826, nearly 90 years of age. His wife Elizabeth 
died Feb. 9, 1819 at the age of 84. He and his eldest son, 
Ebenezer Cutler, were both soldiers in the Revolutionary War. 

The children of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Holman) Cutler 
were: Mary, born Dec. 28, 1758 in Sutton, married Nathan 
Thompson, Nov. 22, 1781, and settled in western New York; 
Ebenezer, born 1760 in Sutton, died in Huntington, Vermont, 
1843; Elizabeth, born Oct. 26, 1762 in Sutton, married Isaac 
Gale of Royalston, Nov. 16, 1782, and had seven children; 
Jonathan, born Oct. 6, 1764 at Sutton, died July 9, 1842; 
Sarah, born April 25, 1768 in Royalston, married Judah 
Stockwell of Royalston, and had nine children; Hannah 
(twin of the preceding), born April 25, 1768, died May 12, 
following; Tarrant, born Sept. 10, 1771 in Royalston; Hannah, 



THE CUTXER FAMILY 281 

foorn Feb., 1774, died Aug. 6, 1778; Mehitable, born July 1, 
1776 in Royalston, married Moses Nichols of Royalston, May 

19, 1802, and had six children. 

Tarrant Cutler, seventh child of Jonathan Cutler was 
born in Royalston, Sept. 10, 1771. He settled there and was 
a farmer. He was one of the assessors of the town for ten 
years, between 1815 and 1829 inclusive. 

He married Lydia, daughter of Levi Whitney, of Harvard, 
Mass., in 1796. He died at Royalston, June 13, 1842 at the 
age of 70 years. The children of Tarrant and Lydia 
(Whitney) Cutler were: Sarah, born April 19, 1798; she 
married Benjamin Heywood at Royalston, Sept. 7, 1819. 
She died Aug. 14, 1860. She had seven children: Melinda, 
born March 16, 1800, married Abijah Richardson at Royalston 
April 1, 1834; he died June 26, 1869, and she married (second) 
Benoni Peck; she had three children by her first husband; 
John, born Oct. 13, 1802, died Feb. 9, 1861; Lijsander, l)orn 
Feb. 16, 1807, died July 30, 1866; Lydia, born March 27., 1809, 
died Sept. 6, 1812, unmarried; Levi, born Aug. 7, 1811, died 
Aug. 13, 1881; Tarrant, born Sept. 8, 1813; George, born July 

20, 1815, resided at Bangor, Maine, and died May 19, 1906; 
Otis, born (3ct. 17, 1817, died May 27, 1868. 

Tarrant Cutler, ' seventh child of Tarrant and Lydia 
(Whitney) Cutler, was born in Royalston, Sept. 8, 1813. He 
was educated and brought up in his native town, where he 
was engaged most of his life as a farmer. He represented the 
town in the Legislature of 1855, and also served the town a'^ 
Selectman and in other town offices. He died June 11, 1898, 
in Fitchburg. 

In 1869 he removed to Fitchburg and entered the grocery 
business with his son, George H., under the firm name of 
G. H. & T. Cutler. He married first, Harriet Fairbanks of 
Athol, March 25, 1839. He married (second) Mary P. Gale, 
daughter of Jonathan and Martha P. Gale of Royalston, 
June 25, 1849. Children of Tarrant and Harriet (Fairbanks) 
Cutler were: Jane L., born Sept. 26, 1840, died Aug. 22, 
1889; she was a teacher in the public schools; George H., 
born April 2, 1845. Children of Tarrant and Mary P. (Gale) 
Cutler were: Charles E., born April 26, 1850, died Aug. 23, 
1852; Mary E., born July 20, 1861. 



282 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

George H. Cutler, second cliild of Tarrant and Harriet 
(Fair])anks) (\itlcr, was born in Royalston, April 2, 1845. 
He attended the district schools of his native town, and 
when a young man went to Fitchburg and started in the fish 
business. After a few years his father came to Fitchburg, 
and they became partners in the grocery business. Since 
the death of his father in 1898, he has carried on the business 
alone. He is a trustee of the Fitchburg Savings Bank, a 
director in the Orswell Mills, Nockege Mills, and the Brown 
Bag Machine Co. He attends the Congregational Church 
and is a member of the Order of Knights of Pythias. He 
never married. 

John Cutler, oldest son of Tarrant and Lydia (Whitney) 
Cutler, married Elizabeth Jacobs, March 7, 1828. He went 
to Bangor Me., wdiere he l^ecame a prominent business man. 
His son, Hon. John L. Cutler, was a large lumber dealer, was 
Representative in the Maine Legislature, also in the Senate, of 
which he was president in 1883. 

George Cutler, fifth son of Tarrant and Lydia (Whitney) 
Cutler, went to Bangor, Me., where he was a prominent 
business man and active politician. He was a Representative 
in the Maine Legislature, and was noted as a campaign 
orator. 

Otis Cutler, youngest son of Tarrant and Lydia (Whitney) 
Cutler, also went to Maine where he became a prominent 
business man and was Customs House appraiser in Portland. 




LYMAN PECK 



LOVINA (DAVIS) PECK 



CHAPTER XII 
OLD ROYALSTON FAMILIES 

THE PECK FAMILY 

The Peck family -of Royalston is one of the most extensive 
famiUes of the town, the nuraljer of Pecks born in Royalston 
during the first one huntlred years of its history being ex- 
ceeded by only one or two families in town; and from its 
meml^ers have come some of the most distinguished sons of 
Royalston. 

The family dates back through over twenty generations to 
John Peck of Belton, Yorkshire, England, and the motto on 
the family coat-of-arms, "Probitatem cjuam divitos" — 
"'probity rather than riches" — has characterized many of the 
descendants. The first American ancestor was Joseph Peck, 
who, fleeing frcm Hingham, Ergland, to avoid religious 
persecution, can:e to Plymouth Colony in 1638, and settled 
in Rehoboth, Mass. The first member of the family to 
settle in Royalston was Daniel Peck, a descendant of Joseph 
Peck. He came to Royalston from Rehoboth about 1775, 
and settled in the west part of the town on what has since 
been known as the Harvey W. Bliss place. He was an in- 
dustrious and enterprising farmer. Married Relief Joy of 
Rehoboth, Nov. 7, 1771, and died in Royalston in 1814. She 
died in 1832. They had thirteen children: Daniel, Ichabod, 
Sally, Solomon, Royal, Calvin, Sally, Moses, Rebeckah, 
Charlott, Lydia, Relief and Huldah. Daniel Peck, son of 
Daniel and Relief (Joy) Peck was born in Rehoboth, Feb. 6, 
1772, and came to Royalston with liis parents about 1775. 
He was a farmer and married Delia Gale of Royalston, April 
27, 1795. They had thirteen children, all born in Royalston: 
Rulina, born Feb. 13, 1796; Chauncey, born March 2, 1797; 
Pomroy, born Feb. 16, 1799; Harriet, born Sept. 13, 1800; 
Mary, born Oct. 19, 1803; Lyman, born Feb. 11, 1804; 
Sullivan, l)orn March 27, 1806; Hannah F., born May 30, 
1809; Elvira, liorn May 14, 1811; Elsa S., born March 11, 
1813; Delia, born Jan. 14, 1815; Huldah C, born Feb. 9, 



284 HI.STORY OF ROYALSTON" 

1817; Augusta, born April 13, 1820. Rulina married Hu^lx 
Foster, March 2, 1818; Chauncey Peck married Jemima Bush, 
daughter of Ephraim Bush of Templeton, Mass., June 13, 
1824 and removed to Boston; Pomroy Peck married Amanda 
Searls of Sutton, Mass., where they settled; Harriet married 
Daniel Bliss, Oct. 11, 1821; Mary mamecl Rev. Timothy 
Crosby, 1831. 

It was Daniel Peck, the father of these thirteen children 
when asked how many children he had, replied "three bushels 
and a peck." 

Lyman Peck settled in Royalston: he married Lorina Davis 
of Royalsion for his firet wife, and Fanny Harrington, widow of 
Abraham Harrington, for his secon I \nfe, Dec. 6, 1860. His 
first wife died May 9, 1860, and he died Dec. 2, 1862. Lyman 
Peck and Lorina Davis had nine children. 

Wayland F. Peck, born Nov. 2, 1830, married Mary 
Burnett and resided in Athol, Mass.; Philander L. Peck,, 
born May, 1832, mamed Rosanna Lewis and resided in 
Royalston. Eugene F. Peck, born Dec, 1833, married 
Rosina Glaze and settled in Ohio; Wiliard born, Dec, 1835 
and died the same month; Polina L., born April 12, 1838> 
married Noah Rankin of Erving, which has been her home to 
the present time; Nelson F., born July, 1840; Joseph W., 
born March, 1842, married Rosy Mayo and settled in Orange, 
Mass.; Daniel W., born April 10, 1843; Lowell H., born 
October, 1845. 

Sullivan Peck, fourth son of Daniel and DeUa (Gale) Peck, 
was born in Royalston, March 27, 1806. He was a farmer 
by vocation and lived on the farm where he was born until 
January, 1865, when he moved to Burlington, Yt., which was 
his home until his death. 

He was a man of the strictest integrity, and one whose 
word was never doubted. He married Czarina Davis, 
daughter of Joseph Davis of Royalston, May 29, 1831. She 
was born Aug. 7, 1808. They had seven children: Martha J., 
born March 10, 1832, married Stephen Gates and resided in 
Burlington, Vt.; they had two children, Walter B. and Nellie 
G. Chauncey P. Peck, born April 5, 1834, married Mary 
Collopy and resided in Burlington; Warren D., born Feb. 28, 
1836; Elsa J., born July 1, 1878, married Judge A. K. Osborn 
of Oshkosk, Wis.; Georgianna, born April 23, 1843, married 




HAMILTON S. PECK 



THE PECK FAMILY 285 

Henry A. Gale of Barre, Mass.; Hammond W., 1)orn Sept. 28, 
1847, resides in Dakota. 

Hamilton Sullivan Peck, third son of Sullivan and Czarina 
(Davis) Peek, was born in Royalston, Mass., Oct. 22, 1845. 
He went with his father and family to Burlington, Vt., in 
1865 and entered the University of Vermont in 1866, where he 
was graduated in 1870. He taught school for three years, and 
at the same time pursued the study of the law. He was 
admitted to the Bar of Chittenden County, Vermont, April, 
1873, and has continued to reside in the city of Burlington 
in said County, practising his profession. He was State 
Attorney for Chittenden County for two years, 1878-80; 
Alderman of his city, 1883-85; City Judge, 1888-1894; 
Mayor, 1896-98, being elected in 1897 without opposition, 
and City Representative to the Vermont Legislature in 1910. 
He was a member and secretary of the Republican State 
Committee of Vermont for four years, 1892-96 and Presi- 
dent of the State Republican League, 1896-98. He is a 
33d Degree Mason and an honorary member of the Supreme 
Council, and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a 
member of the hidependent Order of Odd Fellows, erf the 
Knights of Pythias, of the Modern Woodmen of America, and 
of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and of the 
Ethan Allen Club, a social organization of his city. He has 
attended several of the "Old Home Week" reunions held in 
his native town, and at one of these gatherings mxde an 
address on "The Early New England Home." Miy 1, 1900, 
a day yearly observed by the University of Vermotit, called 
"Founder's Day," Mr. Peck delivered an oration before the 
faculty, students and townspeople, taking for his subject, "The 
Expression of the University Idea." 

On January 28, 1875, he married Miss Selina A. Aiken, 
daughter of Hon. D. W. Aiken of Hardwick, Vt. They have 
one child, Dr. Roy Hamilton Peck, a physician. Li 1911 Dr. 
Peck married Miss Alice J. Campljell of Baltimore, Md., and 
they reside in Springfield, Mass. 

Mr. Peck has been active in the social and civic affairs of 
his adopted city, and has been a frequent contributor to the 
columns of the Burlington Daily Free Press, on subjects of 
public concern. 



286 HISTORY OF KOYALSTON 

Hannah F. Peck, daughter of Daniel and Delia (Gale) 
Peck, married Elisha M. Davis, June 14, 1829; Elvira 
Peek, married George Batchelor, November, 1837; Delia 
married George Pierce, May 5, 1835; Huldah C., married 
Emory April, 1846; Augusta, married George Gil)son. 



THE SOLOMON PECK FAMILY 

Solomon Peck, son of Henry of Rehoboth, came to Royal- 
ston and settled in 1779. He at first purchased about thirty 
acres of land to which, by enterprise and industry, he added 
much. He married Anna Wheeler in July, 1772. She died 
Nov. 10, 1810, and he died Nov. 14, 1822. They had thirteen 
children, all horn in Royalston. 

Benoni Peck, third son of Solomon and Anna (Wheeler) 
Peck, was born in Royalston, July 27, 1783. He settled upon 
the old homestead w^here he resided until 1862, when he 
removed to Fitzwilliam, N. H. He had a military commission 
and was called into the service in the war of 1812. He 
continually held some public office in his town for many years, 
and represented it in the State Legislature in 1836 and 1837. 
Was Selectman from 1836 to 1840 inclusive, and in 1843. 
Was Assessor in 1819, 1820, 1827, 1820, 1836, 1840. He was 
Justice of the Peace for more than forty years and transacted 
Inisiness when over eighty years of age with the vigor of 
middle age. He also devoted much of his time to probate 
business, administrating upon and settling the estates of 
deceased persons in all the region aroiuid. He also took an 
active interest in Free Masonry of which frat(>rnity he was a 
picmir.ent member for more than sixty years. He was twice 
married; first to Eunice Rogers, May 4, 1808; second to 
Malinda Richards. His first wife diecl March 3, 1853. She 
was the daughter of Eliphalet Rogers of Royalston, who was 
a grandson of Rev. John Rogers, pastor of the First Ghurch 
in Ipswich, and President of Harvard College, who died July 
2, 1684, and a lineal descendant of Rev. John Rogers, the 
martyr, who was burned at the stake at Smithfield, England. 

The children of Benoni and Eunice (Rogers) Peck were: 
Caroline, born June 16, 1809, married Josiah Parker and 
settled in Ashland, Mass. She died in 1854, leaving six 




BENONI PECK 



THE PECK FAMILY 287 

children: Philip, born Jan. 16, 1812, settled in Walpole, 
N. H., where he was a merchant. He married Martha Ellen 
Bellows, daughter of Thomas Bellows, Nov. 21, 1839; they 
had two children: Levi, born Aug. 31, 1814, made his home in 
Chelsea, Mass., and was engaged in mercantile business in 
Boston. He married Lucy M. Whitcomb, daughter of Mark 
Whitcomb, of Winchendon, Mass., Dec. 2, 1844; they had 
two children. James W., born Oct. 9, 1817. He was a mer- 
chant in Boston for a number of years until his health failed 
him, when he retired from business, and died in Winchendon, 
in April, 1860. He married Caroline M. Ladd of Boston, and 
they had two children; Benjamin, born Fel). 9, 1820, and died 
in June, 1841; Eliphalet, born March 16, 1822; he married 
Nancy Smith and resided in Worcester, Mass. Calista Peck, 
second daughter of Benoni and Eunice (Rogers) Peck, was 
horn in Royalston, Nov. 7, 1824; she went to Winchendon 
when about seventeen years of age and worked at the milli- 
nery business, and later began in a small way to carry on 
parlor millinery, which she gradually increased, until for 
many years she owned and carried on one of the largest 
establishments of the kind in that section of the country. 

She married Levi Nelson Fairbanks, a prosperous carpenter, 
Jan. 15, 1846. She was always interested in literature, and 
w£s the first librarian of Winchendon, the library being 
located in her home. Four children were born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Fairbanks. The eldest, Frederick, was drowned at Athol, 
when two years of age. Mary Elizabeth, married Augustus 
Peck Smith of Orleans, who died Jan. 28, 1903, after which 
she lived with her mother. Frank P. Fairbanks always lived 
with his mother. He is a machinist and holds an important 
position at the shops of Baxter D. Whitney & Son. Grace, 
the youngest child, married Arthur G. Ketchum of Winchen- 
don. She died in 1895. Mr. Fairbanks died in 1867 and 
Mrs. Fairbanks died May 15, 1CG9. Eunice, daughter of 
Benoni Peck was born June 6, 1827 and died in 1846. 

Henry Peck, youngest son of Benoni Peck, was born in Roy- 
alston Aug. 2, 1829. He lived most of his life in Winchendon, 
Mass., where he was engaged in the marble and undertaking 
business and accumulated quite a property. He married Fran- 
ces Corey of Fitzvvilliam, N. H., Dec. 31. 1861. They had two 



2S8 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

children, Henry Eddie Peck and Fred B. Peck. He died Jan. 
17, 1888. 

Henry Eddie Peck was born March 5, 1862; he married Jen- 
nie Diivarny, and they haYC two children, Henry Francis and 
Kenneth Rupert. 

FredB. P<?cfc was born Oct. 6, 1876; he married Birdye M. 
Knight, and they have one child, Wallace Knight. 

Henry E. and Fred B. Peck are engaged in the clothing 
and dry goods business in Winchendon under the firm name of 
Peck Brothers. 

Mary, the youngest daughter of Benoni Peck was born 
Oct. 6, 1831 and died in 1855. 

THE JOHN PECK FAMILY 

John^ Peck, son of Henry^ left Kehoboth, and settled 
in Eoyalston, Mass., about 1775, from which place he re- 
moved to Montpelier, Vt., in 1806, where he died March 4, 
1812. He was a farmer, and while he resided in Eoyahton 
was one of the town officers for many years. He devoted a 
portion of his time to school teaching, and was cpiite a poet. 
A poem in opposition to the doctrine of Universal Salvation, 
said to have been written by him was published in pamphlet 
form in 1813, and reprinted by John P. Jewett & Co., Boston, 
in 1858. He married Mary Drown. 

They had eight children, several of whom must have been 
born in Royalston or lived in town for several years. There 
were six sons; Joshua the oldest, the Peck Genealogy says, 
"Settled at first in Royalston, Mass., then in Montpelier, Vt., 
and afterwards in Clinton, Me., where he died. He was a 
soldier in the revolution and received a pension during the 
latter part of his life." Oliver, the second son, died young; 
Hiram, the third son, settled at an early date in Montpelier, 
Vt., where he took an active interest in the organization of 
the town, and was one of the first selectmen. He moved 
from Montpelier to Waterbury, where he was a prominent 
man. N'athaniel also settled in Montpelier. He was a 
farmer and a man much respected and honored in the com- 
munity where he resided; Squire, fifth son of John and Mary 
(Drown) Peck, removed from Royalston, with his father to 
]\Iontpelier about 1806, where he died August 25, 1838. He 




IIKNRY PRCK 




SUI^IvIVAN PKCK 



THE PECK FAMILY 289 

niarriocl Elizabeth Goddard June 5, 1704; she died Oct. 4, 
1834, aged sixty-two years; they had ten children, all but two 
of whom were born before the family moved to Montpelier. 
Two of the sons, Nahum and Asahel, were among the most 
prominent lawyers of Vermont, the latter having been a Judge 
of the Supreme Court and Governor of the State. Sketches 
of them will be found in another chapter. 

John Peck, the youngest son of John and Mary (Drown) 
Peck, settled in Waterbury, Vt. He was known as General 
Peck, and was said to be a man of much talent. He was for 
a time High Sheriff of the County, and held other important 
offices. He married Ann Benedict, and died in 182G. 



THE GATES FAMILY 

The Gates family originated in Thomas Gates, county of 
Essex, England, in 1327, and is traced in England through 
ten generations down to Stephen Gates of Hingham, Norfolk 
County, England, who came to this country in 1638 on the 
ship. Diligent, and settled in Hingham, Mass. Thomas Gates 
of Stow, Mass., was a lineal descendant of Stephen Gates of 
Hingham, fifth generation. He was born June 5, 1755 at Stow, 
Mass., and died Feb. 14, 1833. He responded to the Lexington 
alarm and from it enlisted into the army before Boston, and 
is on the rolls returned at different times from siege of Bos- 
ton in 1775. 

He married June 4, 1778, Lydia Hale of Stow, Mass., who 
died June 17, 1817. They had eight children: Levi, Betsey, 
Sally, Stephen, Hannah, Mary, Jonathan and Lydia. All these 
children were born at Stow. 

Stepheri Gates, the second son of Thomas and Lydia 
(Hale) Gates, was born Aug. 27, 1786, and died Oct. 19, 1847 
at Royalston. He spent the early years of his life in Stow, 
where he acquired a ccmmon school education, and after at- 
taining young manhood removed to Townsend, Vt., and after 
remaining there a few years removed to Koyalston, where he 
pursued the occupation of farming the remainder of his life. 
On Sept. 27, 1811, he married Miss Lodema Prentice of Town- 
send, Vt., where she died June 9, 1815. Two children were 
born of this marriage, Sophia and Wealthy. He married. 



290 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

second, Nov. 23, 1820, Miss Comfort Graves of North Lev- 
erett, Mass., and to them were born five chikhen: Charles W., 
Stephen, Lodema, Joel H. and Laura M. Gates. The second 
wife died at Burlington, Vt., March 25, 1877. Both Mr. 
Gates and his wife were earnest and consistent members of 
the Baptist Church of West Royalston. 

(1) Sophia Gates, daughter of Stephen and Lodema (Pren- 
tice) Gates, born April 23, 1812, died July 11, 1813. 

(2) Wealthy Gates, second daughter of Stephen and Lo- 
dema (Prentice) Gates, was born Nov. 28, 1814, at Town- 
send, Vt. She married Sept. 2, 1835, Reuben Newton, who 
was born May 8, 1811 at Westminster, Mass., and died at 
Northfield, Mass., Jan. 12, 1864. They had three children: 
Mary Sophia, born Sept. 6, 1839 at Richmond, N. H., Everett 
Leander, born Nov., 8, 1845 at Royalston and Fidelia Comfort 
Newton, born Feb. 8, 1848 at Royalston. 

(3) Charles Whitman Gates, born Oct. 3, 1821 in Royal- 
ston, married October, 1850, Harriet Bhss, born Fei). 1, 1821. 
She died July 5, 1884. Their children were: Annie E., born at 
Royalston, Aug. 22, 1851 and Willie E., born at Athol, May 
19, 1854. Mr. Gates died May 19, 1884. 

(4) Stephen Gates, born Jan. 2, 1825, at Royalston, died 
October 19, 1865 at Burlington, Vt., married May 7, 1855, 
Martha Jane Peck, l)orn March 10, 1832 at Royalston, a 
daughter of Sullivan Peck. Their children were: W^alter 
Benton, born Sept. 27, 1860, at Burlington and NeUie Ger- 
trude born Jan. 27, 1864 at Burlington. 

(5) Loddma, born Nov. 10, 1828, died Dec. 8, 1848. 

(6) Joel H. Gates, youngest son of Stephen and Comfort 
Gates was born in Royalston, Nov. 22, 1831. He attended 
the common schools and remained under the parental roof 
until he attained the age of sixteen years. 

In 1851, when twenty years of age, he went to Brattle- 
boro, Vt., where he and his brother Stephen commenced the 
manufacture of furniture, remaining there until 1858, when 
they removed to Burlington, Vt., and continued the furniture 
business until 1880. This undertaking was successful from 
the beginning, and the business steadily increased from year 
to year; for a number of years they had a large warehouse in 
Philadelphia, where they employed a large number of hands 



THE GATES FAMILY 291 

finishing and shipping their goods to all sections of the United 
States. 

Mr. Gates resided in Philadelphia from 1860 to 1865, and 
was engaged in the supervision of this extensive trade. In 
1880 the furniture business was given up and their mills, 
changed to the manufacture of cotton goods, and later in 1888 
a stock company was organized to continue the business, and 
known as the "Burlington Cotton Mills," Mr. Gates act- 
ing in the capacity of president of the company. The mills 
employed about three hundred hands. 

In 1870, Mr. Gates in connection with a number of promi- 
nent citizens organized the Howard National Bank, which 
becan:e one of the most flourishing banks in the state of Ver- 
mont, and was chosen one of its first directors. In 1892, he 
was elected vice-president, and in 1894 became president. 

In 1902, they erected a granite building, which is one of 
the finest bank edifices in northern Vermont, Mr. Gates super- 
vising the entire construction of the building until its com- 
pletion. This was characteristic of the habits of a lifetime 
of hard work and frugality which brought their own reward, 
as Mr. Gates was one of the largest property owners in the 
city of Burlington, and also one of its most prominent and 
successful business men. 

He was married, Nov. 22, 1855 to Catherine J. Goodell of 
Orange, Mass., and the following children were born to them: 
Arthur, Clarence L., Minnie L., Stephen J. and Katie M. 
Gates. The mother of these children died Dec. 23, 1892 at 
Burlington, and he married for his second wife, Mrs. Edwin 
L. Sanborn of Waterbury, Vt. He died 



THE WCOD FAMILY 

John Wood, the first member of this family to become con- 
nected with Royalston history, was born in Upton in 1767. 
In the spring of 1794, Mr. Wood, in company with David and 
Joel Taft and Levi Fiske all of Upton, bought three hundred 
and twenty-nine acres of land at two dollars per acre. This 
purchase, which constituted a part of the "Pierpont Grant," 
was divided into four lots, upon which they continued to work 



2g2 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

in company until they had each prepared homes for their pro- 
posed families. Fiske sold out his part to Mr. Wood. 

John Wood married Zerviah Woodbury, daughter of Capt. 
Peter Woodbury, April 26, 1792, and lived on the farm which 
he had prepared until his death in 1836. They had two sons 
and three daughters who lived to have families of their own, and 
two sons and two daughters who died young. 

Sally Wood^ born April 26, 1803, married Dea. Reuben Hyde 
of Winchendon, Mr. Hyde was the inventor of the stave saw. 
They left no family, and at their death their property was 
willed to the American Board of Foreign Missions; Zerviah 
Eliza Wood, born May 3, 1811 married Isaac Cummings, Jr. of 
Winchendon, Nov. 6, 1838; they had one son and two daughters; 
Elmer and Elvira were twins, born, May 19, 1807; Elvira married 
Emmons Stockwell and they had four sons, two of whom are 
now living; Elmer, the twin brother married Abigail Brock of 
Athol; they had a large family, only two of whom are now living. 
One son, Nelson Brock Wood, died in service in the Civil War. 

John Wood, youngest child of John and Zerviah (Woodbury) 
Wood, was born July 1, 1814. He married Al)igail Lord of 
Athol, Dec. 4, 1836, and remained on the home place until his 
death, Aug. 28, 1863. He was for many years a justice of the 
peace, which office he held at the time of his death, and was 
also for many years superintendent of the Congregational Sun- 
day school; they had one daughter and three sons; Nancy 
Lord Wood, the daughter and oldest child, was born July 18, 
1838; she married Lieut. B. Hammond Brown. The sons were: 
Henry S., born June 30, 1840; George Harrison, born April 3, 
1842, and John Milton, born May 7, 1844. 

John Wood and wife were both very patriotic, and when 
our country called for service in the Civil War, placed no ob- 
stacle in the way of their sons, but rather bade them Godspeed, 
when all three enlisted in the Union Army; George H. and John 
M. in Co. E, 53d Mass. Regiment, and Henry S. in Co. I, 25th 
Mass. Regiment. John M. Wood died in Louisiana and was 
buried there; George H. Wood was born April 3, 1842. After 
his return from the war he resided in Winchendon for some time. 
He married Miss Calista Stebbins Morse, daughter of Russell 
and Mary Ann (Stebbins) Morse, June 10, 1873, and went to 
Florida in the fall of 1884, which was ever after his home, 
where he was engaged in the raising of oranges and other fruits 



THE WOOD FAMILY 293 

of that State. He had one daughter, Winifred Morse Wood, 
born May 1, 1884. He died in January, 1908. 

Henry S. Wood was born June 30, 1840; as has been stated 
he enhsted in the 25th Mass. Regiment, Co. I, and remained 
in service a Httle over two years, when he was discharged Nov. 
6, 1863, by order of the Secretary of War; this discharge was 
granted after the death of his father and brother, that he might 
return home to care for his bhnd mother, who was in need of 
some one to care for her, a duty which he performed until her 
death, March 1, 1905. He was one of the prominent and pro- 
gressive farmers of Royalston, and was actively interested in 
the Congregational Church of which he was one of the deacons. 
He married Sarah C. Bemiss, Jan. 26, 1864. 

They had two children: Mabel, born July 10, 1865, married 
Carl E. Sault, Aug. 20, 1900. They have one son and reside 
in Athol where Mr. Sault is engaged in the clothing business. 
George H. Wood, son of Henry S. and Sarah (Bemiss) Wood 
was born in Royalston, May 13, 1869. His education was 
received in the Royalston schools, and at Gushing Academy 
and Mt. Hermon. After leaving school, he went to work in 
the dry goods business as clerk for E. Denny & Go. in Athol, 
now 0. Denny & Go. Later he was in company with J. D. 
Holbrook in Athol for about two years, and then with H. C. 
Gates under the firm name of Wood, Gates & Co., in Orange. 
He then went to Martinsville, Indiana, where he was two years 
in business alone. When he came back east he was located 
in Nashua, N. H., for five years, most of the time with the 
Chamberlain Syndicate Store of Chamberlain, Patten Co. 
In Jan. 1910, he went to Claremont, N. H., as managing partner 
and treasurer of the Chamberlain Syndicate Store, Huntress, 
Patten Co., where he is now located. On Sept. 6, 1899 he married 
Miss Grace E. Hunkins of Lawrence, Mass. ; they have one son, 
Albion Royal Wood, born in Orange, Mass., July 31, 1900. 

Elmer Wood, son of John and Zerviah (Woodbury) Wood, 
born May 19, 1807, married Abigail Brock of Woodstock, 
Conn., Oct. 26, 1833. They had a large family, of whom only 
two are now living: Maria L. and Sarah E. 

Maria Lucy Lavinia Wood, daughter of Elmer and Abigail 
(Brock) Wood, was born in Athol, March 14, 1846. She married 
Levi Bosworth of Royalston in Greenfield, Mass., Jan. 22, 1864, 
while he was home on a furlough from the army. He enlisted 



294 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

in Co. B, 27th Mass. Regiment, Sept. 20, 1861; at the expiration 
of his term of enhstment he re-enhsted in his old regiment and 
received his discharge June 28, 1865, and received commission 
of Brevet Fir^t Lieutenant. They had three children. The}^ 

now reside in Chester, Vt. Sarah E. married Bailing 

and her home is in Chattanooga, Tenn. 



THE HOLMAN FAMILY 

William Holman, the immigrant ancestor of this family, 
came from Northampton, England to Cambridge, Mass., in 
1634 and settled on the present site of the Botanic Garden of 
Harvard University. His widow was accused of being a witch 
by her neighbor John Gibson and family. 

John Holman of the 6th generation, who was born in Bolton, 
Mass. about 1765, settled in Royalston, where he bought land 
in 1790 of John Bridge. The children of John Holman were 
Seth and Willard. He died Dec. 21, 1843, aged 78 years. 

Seth Holman, son of John Holman, was born in Royalston. 
He attended the public schools and was brought up in this town; 
besides farming, he carried on an extensive lumber business 
and had a sawmill. He was an active member of the Congre- 
gational Church and in his will made November 19 and proved Jan. 
1, 1861 bequeathed money to the American Missionary Society 
and American Bible Society. He married Eunice R. Parks 
(Peirks). Their children were: Dana Peirks, George W., Seth 
N., Nelson F. and Mary E., who died young. 

George W. Holman, son of Seth and Eunice (Parks) Holman, 
was born in Roydston, Dec. 1, 1825; attended the common 
schools until twelve years of age; then began to drive a team 
of horses hauling logs to his father's mill and for six years worked 
for his father in that position. Then he began to saw logs in 
the mill. His father purchased a furniture shop on which he 
held a mortgage and George conducted it fcr five years. He 
left Royalston and started for himself in the furniture business 
in Boston. In 1857, he removed to Wisconsin and became a 
railroad contractor, building railroads and bridges in the west. 
He returned to the east and settled in Fitchburg, Mass., as a 
builder and contractor, where he erected many buildings, and 
had charge of the street department for a nurr.ber of years. 
He served on the common council, board of aldermen, and 



THE HOLMAN FAMILY 295 

was a director of the Wanoosnac Electric Power Co. of Fitch- 
burg. Was a member of Mt. Roulstone Lodge of Odd Fellows 
and attended the Congregational Church. He married in 1853, 
Delia E. Mirick, daughter of Ephraim Mirick of Princeton, 
Mass. They had two children: Mary E., who died young 
and George M., who resides in Fitchburg, and is a teacher in 
the Bryant & Stratton School in Boston. 

»S(i/i A^. Holman was for many years engaged in manu- 
facturing in Royalston and oth?r towns, and wa> also engaged 
extensively in the lumber business. He went to Spokane, 
Washington, a number of years ago, where he and his brother 
Nelson F., were living in 1915. 

The Royalston Memorial says that "Lt. Edward Holman 
from Sutton, settled nearly midway between Tarrant Cutler 
and Silas Jones. The cellar hole on the west side of the road 
marks the place of this sturdy old settler. He descended from 
a Welchman, who, with two ])rothers, all 'impressed seamen' 
obtained a furlough from their ship to visit our shores, but never 
took the trouble to report themselves again to the Captain. 
This may account for th3 gallantry of their race in our Revolu- 
tion. Col. Holman, a Sutton man, commanded one of our 
regiments — our settler was a kinsman and served as Lt. 
under him, — and tradition in the family saith, that the British 
used to say 'they had as lief see the Devil a-coming as Col. 
Holman on his gray mare.' The Lt. came here with nine chil- 
dren, of whom both sans and daughters had large families." 
These nine children were probably born in Sutton, as there is 
no record of their birth in Royalston. 

The History of Chesterfield, N. H., says: "Edward, David, 
Noah, Stephen and Smith Holman were prol)ably the sons of 
Edward Holman of Royalston. Edward Junior, came to Chester- 
field about 1794, but removed to Keene about 1812. Noah 
died in Orange, Mass." 

David Holman, probably son of Edward Holman of Royal- 
ston, married Mehetable Gale, who died Nov. 19, 1847 aged 64; 
married (2), 1850, Mrs. Laura (Stone) Henrj-, widow of John 
P. Henry, and who died March 21, 1863. He settled in Chester- 
field about 1805. He died Aug. 17, 1864, aged 85. 



296 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

THE R.\YMOND FAMILY 

The immigrant ancestor of the Raymond families of Roy- 
alston was one WilHam Raymond, who came to New England 
"about 1652" and settled in Salem, Mass. He was from Essex 
County in Old England. He was a prominent citizen of the 
town, and was in the Narragansett fight of 1675. He was 
appointed by the General Court in 1683, Lieut. Commander of 
Beverly and Wenham troops. He commanded a company 
in Phipps' Canada Expedition of 1690, and was a Deputy 
for Beverly in 1685-6. He died Jan. 29, 1709. His son William 
Raymond was born at Salem or Beverly, Mass., in 1666, and 
died in 1701 by the fall of a tree. He was a witness in a witch- 
craft case in Salem, but was not one of the "deluded parties." 

Joseph Raymond, son of Stephen and Rhoda (Estabrook) 
Raymond was born in Royalston, June 3, 1801. He spent his 
youth in his native town, attending the public schools, and 
at seventeen years of age entered the store of Gen. Franklin 
Gregory, where he remained until the close of 1823, and in 
a few months thereafter was offered and accepted a partner- 
ship with Col. Artemas Lee in his business at Baldwinville, 
Mass. The firm of Lee & Raymond carried on an extensive 
and lucrative business for fourteen years until April, 1838, 
when Mr. Raymond returned to Royalston and formed a co- 
partnership with Joseph Estabrook which continued until 
the spring or summer of 1844, at which time he retired from 
active business life. He, however, continued prominent in 
town affairs, and filled for many years various offices of trust 
in the town government, having served as selectman nine 
years, assessor, three years, and town clerk three years. He 
represented Royalston in the Legislature of 1850 and 1851, 
and in the latter year in the memorable contest for United 
States Senator, was a consistent and enthusiastic supporter 
of Charles Sumner. Upon the establishment of the Millers 
River Bank in Athol, in 1854, Mr. Raymond was elected one 
of its first directors and gave his valuable experience to the 
management of that institution. He brought to the discharge 
of all these duties in town, state and bank, faithful service, 
sound judgment and wise foresight, exercising the same care and 
diligence that he did in his own business, and won and re- 
tained the full confidence of his townsm.en. 




ui. J^JJ\^nyi^<^- 



THE RAYMOND FAMILY 297 

He married, Nov. 21, 1830, Elizabeth Kendall, daughter 
of Samuel Kendall, who was born in Enfield, Mass., in 1801. 
A woman of rare gifts, respected and loved by all who knew 
her, she died in 1887, mourned by a large circle of friends, after 
a married life of over fifty-six years. 

Mr. Raymond contributed the first money towards founding 
a public library in Royalston, which bore the name of the 
"Raymond Public Library" until the erection of the "Phinehas 
S. Newton Library" a few years ago. He was a type of the 
best New England character, which he exemplified in his good 
citizenship, integrity and love of justice and was a man of 
marked individuality. He died Sept. 7, 1893. 

The children of Joseph and Elizabeth (Kendall) Raymond 
were: Amie Elizabeth, born July 1, 1832, married John L. Choate, 
Aug. 14, 1860. Had two sons, Harry Raymond Choate, born 
Sept. 27, 1862, died in August, 1864; Charles Buckingham Choate, 
born March 10, 1866, married Alice Bradford Churchill in 
18G0, has one daughter, Helen Raymond Choate, born Nov. 
25, 1893; he resides in Chelsea, Mass. 

Joseph Estabrook Raymond, born Nov. 27, 1834, married 
Charlotte Louise Marshall of Fitchburg, Dec. 31, 1861. He had 
one daughter Martha Frances Raymond, born March 12, 
1871. 

William. Henry Harrison Raymond, born Dec. 1, 1842, 
died, Sept. 19, 1847. 

Alfred D wight Raymond, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Ken- 
dall) Raymond, was born in Royalston, Nov. 25, 1838. He 
attended the public schools of his native town, and then went 
to Meriden, N. H. Academy, after which he became a farmer 
and cattle dealer in Royalston, being one of the most promi- 
nent and progressive farmers of the town. 

He was deeply interested in all public questions concern- 
ing the state and nation, and by constant reading kept l:Mmself 
well informed. All business which he undertook for the town 
and others was carried on with the same faithfulness and ex- 
cellent ability which he applied to his own affairs. His gen- 
erous help was given to many who found the struggle of life 
difficult. He was actively interested in all town affairs, and 
served the town in various offices; was selectman, three years, 
assessor, eleven years, and member of the School Committee 



298 



HISTORY OF ROYAL.STON 



for many years. He was president of the Worcester North- 
west Agricultural Society in 1892 and 1893. 

In 18G1, he married Martha Jennette Willis, daughter of 
Dr. Isaac Willis, for many years 'the able and respected phy- 
sician of Royalston. 

Their children were: Alfred Joseph Raymond, Iwrn Dec. 
14, 1862; Carrie Willis Raymond, born April 25, 1865 and 
Mary Elizabeth Raymond, born Dec. 13, 1863. 

AlfredJoseph Raymond, son of Alfred D. and Martha (Willis) 
Raymond, was born Dec. 14, 1832 in Royalston. He at- 
tended the schools of his native town, and succeeded his father 
on the fine farm situated north of the Centre. He was married, 
Sept. 3, 1890, to Josephine Smith. They have two children: 
Laurence J. and Evelyn S. Raymond, both born in Royal- 
ston. He went to Athol, Jan. 1, 1898 and purchased the sash 
and blind business, formerly carried on by Edwin Ellis, and 
has built up a large and successful business. He has been 
prominent in social and town affairs, and has been a member 
of the School Committee for about twelve years. He is a 
member of all branches of the Masonic Order, of the Poquiag 
Club, the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, Boston 
Athletic Association and the Boston City Club. He still owns 
the old homestead of his father in Royalston. 

THE ARTEMAS RAYMOND FAMILY 

Artemas Raymond, son of William and Sophia Raymond, was 
born in Royalston, March 1, 1801. He was a farmer and 
married Abigail Chase, Nov. 29, 1832. She was a daughter of 
David Chase, also a farmer of Royalston. 

Their children were: Wm. C, born Nov. 19, 1835, he married 

Julia , July 16, 1863; FrankUn S., born in November, 

1837, lived only six months; FrankUn H., born Nov. 18, 1838, 
married Martha Peirce, Oct. 1, 1867; he resided in Athol for 
many years and was a boot and shoemaker; he was postmaster 
of the Athol Centre office from July, 1885 to Dec. 20, 1889. 
He married for his second wife, Mre. Carrie A. Patten, April 
6, 1886. She died April 28, 1908, and he now lives in Boston. 
George A., born June 28, 1842, enUsted in the Civil War and 
was killed at the Battle of Cold Harbor; Mary Sophia, born 
Feb. 9, 1843, married George W. Cheney of Winchendon, 




ALFRED J. RAYMOND 



THE RAYMOND FAMILY 299 

and their children were: Flora Belle, ])orn Aug. 22, 1869, Frank 
Schuyler, born Sept. 21, 1871 and Nellie Etta, born Maj- 11, 
1874; Luther R. Raymond, born Sept. 12, 1815, died at the age 
of four years; Sarah A., born July 31, 1819, died at the age 
of two. years, and Edward W., born June 26, 1852, married 
Susie , April 16, 1873, and their home was in Boston. 



THE CHASE FAMILY 

Thomas Chase of England, called "the Unfortunate," 
was brutally murdered in 1506 in a small room adjoining the 
chapel connected with the palace of the Bishop of Longlance 
at Woburn, who was confessor to Henry the Eighth. 

His son. Sir William Chase of Chesham, Buckingham County, 
England, was born in the reign of Queen Mary and was High 
Steward to the household of Henry the Eighth. Sir Richard 
Chase, son of Sir William, was born in Chesham, England in 
1537 and married Lady Elizalieth Bowchieu. Acjuila, the 
foui'th son of Sir Richard, was born in Hundrich, Eng., Aug. 
14, 1580. Aquila 2nd, son of Aquila, was born in 1618 in the 
Parish of Chesham, Eng., emigrated to this country and settled 
in Hampton, N. H. in 1639. He marrie:! Anne Wheeler, daugh- 
ter of John Wheeler of Hampton and removed to New'oury, 
Mass., in 1646. He died in Newburyport in 1670. John 
Chase, the seventh child of Aquila 2nd and Anne Wheeler, was 
born Nov. 2, 1655 and married Eliza))eth Bingley, May 23, 
1677. Phillip Chase, the third son of John and Elizabeth was 
born Sept. 23, 1688 and married Mary Follans!)ee, April 17, 1712. 

Lieutenant Francis Chase, the ninth child of Phillip and 
Mary (FoUansbee) Chase, mirried M.iry Perkins, June 12, 
1760. He was one of the first settlers of Royalston, coming 
from Sutton, Mass. and taking up his residence in the north- 
east part of the town. He was called to the front in the War 
of the Revolution on the occasion of the Burgoyne Invasion, 
and participated in the Battle of Bennington. He died of 
apoplexy at an inn on his way home from Boston, Jan. 16, 1791, 
at the age of fifty-five years. His son David, the oldest of 
eleven children, was born in Sutton, March 10, 1761, and married 
Sarah Raymond of Athol, Nov. 29, 1788; they had ten chil- 
dren. He died March 27, 1816. 



JOO HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Chaiincy Chase, the seventh child of David and Sarah 
(Raymond) Chase, was born in Royalston, May 22, 1801. 
He chose the trade of a carpenter and in the early twenties 
removed to Boston where he became a contractor and builder 
of excellent repute. On Dec. 2, 1830, he married Caroline 
Morse, daughter of Russell and Betsey (Waite) Morse of Royal- 
ston. They had six children: Caroline Augusta, born Oct. 9, 
1835, wko married WiUiam D. Atkinson of Boston, Nov. 1, 
1859. He died June 21, 1881, and she died Feb. 28, 1907. 
They had two children: Florence Viola and Harriet Taylor, 
who both died in early life; Elizabeth Waite, born Sept. 14, 1837, 
and died Dec. 14, 1896; Ahnira Elliott, born Feb. 8, 1841 and 
died Sept. 16, 1843; Henriette Toumsend, born Jan. 13, 1846, 
married William H. Nutting, of Boston, Sept. 25, 1866; he died 
in November, 1872; Ella Perkins, born Dec. 2, 1849 and died 
Feb. 28, 1896; Fannie Riissell, born Oct. 9, 1853, married Dr. 
Francis W. Adams of Fishkill-on-the-Hudson, N. Y., June 
26, 1872. They had two children, Mabel Winifred and Robert 
Winthrop. 

Chauncy Chase becoming eventually weary of the city, 
and having a great desire to take up country life, purchased 
the ancient homestead of the Doctors Bacheller on Royalston 
Common, and in the early fifties proceeded to remodel and beau- 
tify this residence. He finally removed to Royalston with 
his family in 1859. He drained, leveled and graded a large 
section of the Common adjoining his residence, and was in- 
strumental in the planting of many of the younger growth of 
shade trees that give it a park-like appearance to-day. He 
furnished the plans for the present church edifice, the graceful 
lines of whose spire elicit the admiration of even the strangers 
passing through the town, and the building itself, when com- 
pleted was not accepted by the committee until he had thor- 
oughly inspected and approved the work. 

He was the architect and builder of the To^^^l House, another 
ornament of the Common, and presented to the town the land 
on which it stands. He was a faithful member of the Congre- 
gational Church, and was one of its most liberal supporters 
during his lifetime. He died Feb. 26, 1878, and the town at 
its next annual meeting passed the following resolutions on his 
death, a thing said to be unprecedented except in instances where 





CIIAUNCY CIIA.SR 



RUSSKLL MORSK 





GEOR&R CIIASR 



FRANCIS CIIASK 



THE CHASE FAMILY SQl 

citizens had made in favor of the town important pubHc bequests. 

The Resolutions adopted are as follows: 

Whereas, in the course of Divine Providence our esteemed 
fellow citizen, Mr. Chauncy Chase, the architect and builder 
of our beautiful Town Hall, has been removed from us by death; 
and 

Whereas, the strength and permanence of our popular in- 
stitutions is to be found in the virtue of private citizens in every 
station in life more than in the watchfulness of political parties 
or the abilities of public men, therefore, 

Resolved, that the Town of Royalston take this occasion to 
commend the life that has so plainly exhibited the virtues of 
steadiness, prudence and chastity; of that untiring industry 
and that unflinching honesty and thoroughness that made him 
a workman that needed not to be ashamed; and of that pra(;tical 
patriotism with which, in his later years, he brought the benefit 
of his accumulations and ripened skill to strengthen and beautify 
his native town. 

Resolved, that the young people of the town may be en- 
couraged hereby to build their worldly fortunes upon the practice 
of these virtues instead of idly waiting for the discovery of great 
opportunities. 

Resolved, that the Selectmen and Clerk of the town are 
hereby authorized to procure the insertion of these Resolutions 
in the Athol papers and to present a copy to the family of our 
deceased fellow citizen. 

Resolved, that we tender our sympathy to the afflicted family 
and congratulate them upon the priceless legacy he has left 
them, — the name and memory of an honest man, the noblest 
work of God. 

George Chase, son of William and Betsey (Work) Chase, was 
born in Royalston, Nov. 1, 1810. He was a prominent farmer, 
and an active member in the First Congregational Church. 
He married Esther Morse, Sept. 2, 1835. She was born Jan. 2, 
1813 and died Dec. 18, 1908, at the age of ninety-three years 
and eleven months. 

Their children were: George L., born Dec. 11, 1838, married 
to Elvira Tirrell in 1860. He died in 1863 from wounds re- 
ceived in the Battle of the Wilderness June 8. He was a mem- 
ber of Co. D, 36th Regiment ; they had two children. Cath- 
erine C. Chase, born April 16, 1840, married Josiah W. Wilder 
of Petersham, a soldier in the 15th Mass. Regiment in the 



JQ2 HISTORY OF KOYALSTON 

Civil War, she lives in Worcester; Frederick B. Chase, born 
Feb. 6, 1843, died Nov. 7, 1868; Helen M. Chase, born Nov. 
23, 1846, married Forest A. Hicks of Petersham, Dec. 8, 1838; 
he enlisted in the Civil War in Co. F, Fifty-third Mass. Regi- 
ment; Harriet E. Chase, born Jan. 7, 1848, married Luther 
Stone of Petersham in November, 1872, she died in 1874. 

Francis Chase, son of William and Betsey (Work) Chase, 
was born in Royalston, April 2, 1812. He marrie 1 Ruth Slade 
of Paxton, Mass., Jan. 1, IS 10. 

He bought part of the farm his father had owned, and in- 
tended to build a house there but his brother-in-law sold him 
the place on the South Royalston road where hi? S3n Charle? 
F. Chase now resides, and he changed his plans and located 
there. He was a successful farmer, and builder and repairer of 
roads, serving for many years as one of the Highway Surveyors. 
He also laid the foundations of the town house and the school- 
house at South Royalston and when seventy-five years of age 
could be seen taking his turn on the lead mowing with the 
hired men in the hayfield. His wife, Ruth Slade, died June 
29, 1846, leaving three children, and he married second, Lu- 
cretia Slade, sister of his first wife, Sept. 9, 1847, they had nine 
more children. Mrs. Chase died Jan. 15, 1834, leaving her 
husband with nine children at home under sixteen years of 
age. Mr. Chase died, Feb. 9, 1333. The chil:L-3i of Francis 
and Ruth (Slade) Chase were: Lucretia, William Henry and 
John Slade; Lncretia, born March 13, 1841 married Charles 
Allard, and second, a Mr. White, and her home has been in 
San Diego, Cal.; Wfn. H. Chase, born June 18, 1843. He 
enlisted in Co. I, 25th Mass. Infantry, Sept. 30, 1831 and served 
three years, being discharged Oct. 20, 1864. After his return 
from the war he lived in Winchendon and West Fitchburg, 
and went to Athol in 1880, which was his home for thirty years, 
and where he was engaged in the market and ice business. After 
leaving Athol he resided in Cambridge and Worcester. He 
married Georgiana J. Tucker of West Fairlee, Vt., May 9, 1830, 
and they have one son, Ernest T. Chase, born in Athol, Sapt. 
6, 1881, who graduated at Boston Umv3r5ity in ths Clav, of 
1904, and was instructor in German and English at ths Worces- 
ter Polytechnic Institute, and left that position to becoLTic the 
religious work director of the Worcester Y. M. C. A. About 
1910, he accepted a position in an educational institution in 



THE CHASE FAMILY J03 

Honolulu. In 1911, Wm. H. Chase and his wife went to 
Honolulu to be with their son, and he engaged in Missionary 
work among the soldiers, where the officers and soldiers knew 
him as Chaplain Chase. 

John Slade Chase, also enlisted in the Civil War, was taken 
prisoner and died in Andersonville prison. 

The children of Francis and Lucretia (Slade) Chase were: 
Thomas Follansbee, born Aug. 11, 1848; Sophia Elizabeth, born 
Sept. 20, 1849, married Allan Harrington of South Royalston, 
where they now live; George Washington, born Dec. 17, 1852; 
Sarah Mariah, born in 1853, married George W. Tucker of Athol, 
May 1, 1882, she died — — — ; Joseph Howard, born April 18, 
1854, died Oct. 2, 1871; Flora E., born June 6, 1856, married 
George W. Tucker; Charles F. Chase, born Jan. 15, 1858; 
Ella Amelia, born March 4, 1860; Fannie Ruth, born April 1, 
1862 and died Fel). 16, 1881. 

Thoinas Follansbee Chase, oldest son of Francis and Lucretia 
(Slade) Chase, was born Aug. 11, 1848. He married Mary A. 
Alden, June 15, 1873 and married, second, Hattie E. Prew, 
April 18, 1906. He has two children: Anna M. and Frank W. 
He was in the employ of the New York, New Haven & Hartford 
Railroad Co., for upwards of forty-four years as Section Foreman 
and Construction Foreman and was retired Dec. 1, 1914. His 
home has been in Fitchburg, Framingham and Clinton, Mass., 
and he now resides in Leominster. 

Charles Francis Chase, youngest son of Francis and Lu- 
cretia (Slade) Chase, was born in Royalston Jan. 15, 1858. 
He succeeded his father on the home farm, and has been a 
prosperous farmer of the town. He married Adelle Luseba 
Chapin, June 8, 1893. Their children are: Francis Chapin, 
born May 24, 1894, Elliott Bartlett, born Dec. 31, 1895, HoUis 
Bolton, born Sept. 15, 1897, Roger Clark, born May 24, 1899, 
Alice Ethel, born Aug. 13, 1902 and Edith Adelle, born April 6, 
1908. He is a member of the Congregational Church; Ella 
Ajnelia Chase was born March 2, 1860, she lived in Athol, 
Gardner, Orange and other places, she never married and 
made her home with sister, Mrs. Geo. W. Tucker. She died in 
Brookfield Feb. 16, 1916, of pneumonia, and burial was in the 
Crystal Lake cemetery at Gardner. 



304- HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

THE BRAGG FAMILY 

Nathaviel Bragg, the ancestor of all bearing the name of 
Bragg in Royalston, was born in Shrewsbury, Mass., June 29, 
1747. He married Sarah Wilson of Northborough, Mass., 
March 14, 1771, she was born Oct. 13, 1750. 

He came to Royalston about the time of the Revolution, 
probably in 1775 or '76, and settled near the Athol line, close 
to what is now known as Doane's Falls. His children were: 
Benjamin, born in Shrewsbury, March 27, 1772 and died in 
Royalston, Sept. 17, 1777; Sarah, born in Shrewsbury, Feb. 27, 
1774, she married Joseph Jacobs of Athol, May 17, 1792, and 
died at Athol, Nov. 9, 1795; Lucy, born in Royalston, Oct. 8, 
1778, she married Joseph Goddard of Athol, April 30, 1804; 
Nathaniel, born Dec. 18, 1780, married Polly Kendall of Gerry, 
Jan. 1, 1807; Olive, born April 11, 1783, married William Nurse 
of Westborough, March 2, 1809; Benjamin, born Sept. 26, 
1785, married Sally Putnam Peirce of Winchendon, Aug. 2, 1812; 
Polly, born Feb. 29, 1788, died Feb. 14, 1795; Ira, born May 23, 
1791, married Mercy Clements, Nov. 18, 1810. 

The children of Nathaniel Bragg, Jr. and Polly Kendall 
were: Jesse Kendall, born Oct. 11, 1817; Nathaniel Wilson, 
born Aug. 31, 18C9; Olive, born March 3, 1814; Lysander Frank- 
lin, born Feb. 9, 1817; Mary Ann, born June 1, 1820; Henry 
Obookiah, born Aug. 21, 1824; Polly, born Nov. 7, 1807. 

Benjamin Bragg , born Sept. 26, 1785, married Sally Putnam 
Peirce, Aug. 2, 1812, she was born Oct. 29, 1793, and died 
Mar. 11, 1833; he married (2) Mary Snow of Lunenburg, Feb. 
11, 1834, she was born Aug. 17, 1808, and died June 18, 1903. 
He built a carding mill north of the bridge at Doane's Falls, 
and afterwards converted it into a satinet factory, where quite 
a business was done for a number of years. He died June 11, 
1852. The children of Benjamin and Sally Peirce Bragg were: 
Harvey, born Dec. 11, 1812, ched March 9, 1813; Lucy, born 
March 19, 1814 died March 21, 1814; Rosano, born March 26, 
1815, she married a Mr. Symons and died at Niagara Falls, 
Aug. 6, 1839; Hannah, born Feb. 11, 1817, died Feb. 12, 1817; 
John Hervey, born June 12, 1815, married Amy Ballou, Nov. 
28, 1844, died Dec. 12, 1852; Harriet Bragg, born July 12, 
1820, married Calvin Drury, Dec. 15, 1842. Their children 
born in Royalston were: Susan F., born Sept. 27, 1851; Sarah 



THE BRAGG FAMILY 305 

A., born April 1, 18c4; Calvin, born Sept. 16, 1858, was married 
in New Hampshire May 31, 1879 to Jennie Alwildia Greenwood, 
they had eight children, seven of whom are living, he died in 
Princeton, Mass., Oct. 10, 1913. Horace Drury was born in 
Athol, Feb. 11, 1843, and was married in Worcester, Nov. 13, 
1866, to Mrs. Althea S. Oaks, they had six children, four boys 
and two girls. He enlisted in the Civil War in Co. F, Fifty- 
third Mass. Regiment. 

Cyrdhia Pierce Bragg, born April 25, 1822, and died April 2, 
1836. 

Eunice Rcy Bragg, born Nov. 13, 1824, married George Russell 
Garfcld cf Athcl, they had two children. She died in Decem- 
ber, 1910. 

The children of Benjamin and Mary (Snow) Bragg were: 
Joseph Snmv, born Dec. 31, 1834, died Jan. 12, 1835; Sarah 
Putnam Pierce, ])orn Sept. 20, 1837, married Newell Holman, 
June, 1857 and died Fel). 24, 1859; Cynthia Rosana, born Feb. 
1, 1840, married F. Ewight Kellogg of Orange, died Nov. 23, 
K05,i-:he had two sons, Frederic L. Kellogg, born May 26, 1867, 
he is a graduate of Bellevue Medical School, New York City, 
and is now a physician located in Roxbury, Mass. ; the second 
son, Fdwin D. Kellogg, ])orn Jan. 29, 1882, is a graduate from 
the Theolcgicc"l Seminary in Bangor, Maine, was ordained 
June 17, KC9, and is rcAV a Missionary in China; Mary Snow 
Bragg, born Oct. 5, 1842, married F. Dwight Kellogg of Orange, 
Nov. 20, 1908; Ruth Anna, born March 12, 1845, died May 4, 
1846; Stella Isadore, born June 17, 1847, died Feb. 14, 1848; 
Benjamin Leroy, born in Royalston June 30, 1850; he married 
Mary Frances Sessions of Hartford, Conn., Nov. 10, 1880. 
They reside in Springfield, where Mr. Bragg is engaged in 
the insurance business. They have one child, Benjamin 
Leroy, Jr., born in Springfield, Jan. 9, 1882; he married Marion 
Chandler van der Penen of Somerville, New Jersey, Oct. 12, 
1912, they have one child, Frances Bragg, born in Springfield, 
July 8, 1913. 

Ira Bragg, married Mercy Clements, daughter of Wm. and 
Anna Clements, Nov. 18, 1810, they had one child, Elmer, 
torn May 8, 1811. 

Nathaniel Wilson Bragg, son of Nathaniel Bragg, Jr. and 
Polly Kendall, was born Aug. 31, 1809. He was a farmer and 
lived and died in Royalston on the place that was originally 



JQ^ HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

settled by Ezekiel Cutler. He was a successful farmer, and 

was a member of no society, except the Worcester Northwest 

Agricultural Society. He married Almira Paine, March 17, 

1834. He died March 31, 1893, and his wife died, Jan. 15, 1869. 

The children of Nathaniel Wilson and Almira (Paine) Bragg 

were: Warren »S., "born May 20, 1837, married Mary Shores 

frcm Shutesbury, he died in Cambridge, Jan. 21, ICOO; Augusta 

H., born Nov. 3, 1839, and died in Royalston, June 26, 1862; 

Henry W., born Dec. 10, 1842, married Dorlesky Jackson, died 

March 24, 1890 in Worcester; Mijra I., born Oct. 26, 1851, 

m-arried John Davis and lived on the old homestead, died Jan. 

22, 1911, in Royalston; Maria L., born Oct. 21, 1848; was a 

teacher for many years. 

Homj 0. Bragg, son of Nathaniel and Polly (Kendall) 
Bragg, was born in Royalston April 21, 1824. As a young man, 
he taught school in Middleboro and Royalston. Later, at the 
death of his father, he returned home to carry on the farm. 
He was always interested in the welfare of his town and held 
several positions of trust. He married Jemima Shores, daughter 
of Rev. Silas Shores, Nov. 24, 1853, she was born in Falmouth, 
April 19, 1828. In 1869, he removed to Amherst, Mass., to 
educate his children. After twenty years, he left Amherst for 
Agawam, where he bought a large farm. In 1892, he went to 
Foxboro, Mass., where he and his wife made their home with 
their son. Dr. Francis A. Bragg, and where he died July 6, 1903; 
his wife died Jan. 23, 1912. They had seven children: Henry 
Eugene, born Sept. 3, 1854, died Aug. 24, 1869; Everett Bert, 
born March 2, 1856; Charles Franklin, born April 7, 1858, died 
Feb. 2, 1863; Abbie Adella, born April 4, 1864, died Sept. 17, 
1869; Will Thornton, born May 9, 1862; Francis Adelbert, born 
Jan. 2, 1865; Stella Ameha, born Oct. 31, 1867, died Feb. 13, 
1884. 

Everett B. Bragg, son of Henry 0. and Jemima (Shores) 
Bragg was born in Royalston March 20, 1856; his father was 
living at the time on the original farm owned by his grand- 
father, Nathaniel Bragg, on the road leading from Royalston 
to Athol, the south boundary of the farm adjoining the Athol 
line. His early education was obtained in the public schools 
of Royalston, Shutesbury and Amherst. He entered the 
Massa(!husetts Agricultural College at the age of fifteen and 
graduated in the Class of 1875. After graduation, he remained 




'M- 




DR. FRANCIS A. BRAGG 



HENRY O. BRAGG 




MR. AND MRS. EVERETT EUGENE BRAGG 
and EVERETT C. BRAGG 




EVERETT B. BRAGG 



THP: BRAGG FAMILY J07 

three 3 ears at the Ccllege as an assistant to Er. C. A. Goessman 
in the chemical department, and then was four years exploring 
in He Wet-t Indies. 

In 1895, he organized the National Chemical Co. in Cleve- 
lard, Chio, engaging in the manufacture of heavy chemicals. 
Ihis ccmjpany becam.e a part of the General Chemical Co. of 
New York in 1899 and he became the western manager of their 
m.anufactiiring department and in 1905, was elected vice- 
president and western manager located at Chicago, and this 
position he holds at the present time. He is a member of the 
fcllcwing clubs and societies: Union League Club, Chicago; 
Union Club, Cleveland; New York Athletic Club; New York 
Chem.istry Club; Evanston Club, Evanston, 111.; Chicago 
Association of Comm.erce; Illinois Manufacturing Association; 
Am.erican Chemical Society; American Association for the Ad- 
vancem.ent of Science; New England Society of Chicago, and 
several other societies. 

He married Helen Bliss Dickinson of Amherst, Mass., May 
31, 1882; their children all living at this time are: Everett E., 
born in Boston, Dec. 9, 1884; Helen M., born in Boston, Dec. 21, 
1886; Lawrence D., born in Springfield, Mass., Jan. 12, 1890; 
Kendall B., horn in Cleveland, Ohio, Feb. 4, 1892 and Arthur D. 
hcin in Lvfrstcn, 111., Feb. 14, 1902. 

Francis A. Bragg, son of Henry 0. and Jemima (Shores) 
Bragg, was born in Shutesbury, Mass., Jan. 2, 1865, was edu- 
cated at Amherst public schools and Harvard Medical School, 
receiving his degree with Class of 1894. He began the practice 
of his profession in Boston, and settled in Foxboro, Mass., in 
1895, where he is still in practice. He is the Medical Examiner 
of Sixth Norfolk District, and a m.ember of the Harvard Alumni 
Association, Massachusetts Medical Society and the American 
Medical Association. He was married Sept. 14, 1899 to Mary 
Davenport, a graduate of Wellesley, 1896. They have three 
children: Francis C, born July 1, 1901, Alice D., born Feb. 10, 
1903 and David K., born Oct. 13, 1908. 



THE FISHER FAMILY 

Capt. David Fisher came to Royalston sometime about 1790 
frcm Attleboro, Mass. where he was born in 1764. He mar- 



308 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 



ried Sophia Thayer of Mansfield Aug. 9, 1790. He bought a 
farm of one hundred acres in West Royalston, where he 
died in 1850. He was a Quaker and very eccentric, being an 
earnest opponent of the old law, requiring every one to pay 
for the support of religious worship, and became a leader of 
the "Free Donation Society"; after the repeal of that law 
he became a regular contributor in sustaining the institution 
of the Gospel. He was selectman of Royalston two years, 
assessor seven years, and was a well known school-master 
for several years. The children of David and Sophia (Thayer) 
Fisher were: Sophia, born Aug. 23, 1791, married Moses 
Walker 2nd., Jan. 29, 1816; Jason, born April 25, 1793; Achsa, 
born Feb. 8, 1795, died Feb. 21, 1795; Seth, bom Jan. 13, 
1796; Clarissa, born Feb. 27, 1798, married Hori West- 
coat of Warwick March 21, 1820; Ruth Bhss, born Aug. 22, 
1799, married Stephen J. Kendall of Warwick, May 9, 1820; 
David, born Mar. 8, 1801; Israel Labin, born May 13, 1803, 
died Oct. 9, 1805. 

Jason Fisher, oldest son of Capt. David Fisher, was born 
in Royalston Apr. 25, 1793. He bought his father's farm 
and lived on it until his death in 1878. He was a farmer 
and pump maker, making the old-fashioned wooden pump. 
He married Ruth Walker Feb. 19, 1818. Their children were: 
Horace, born Sept. 19, 1820; Ruth Morse, born Mar. 24, 1823, 
married Charles Mosman of Westminster, Nov. 20, 1845; 
Lisander Watson, born Jan. 22, 1825;Oi-vis, bom Mar. 23, 
1827;Feronda Walker born, Apr. 23, 1829;Fyonda Aurilla, 
born Mar. 6, 1831; Cynthia Dexter, born Mar. 3, 1834, 
died young; Augustus J., born Apr. 14, 1836. 

Augustus J. Fisher was bom in Royalston, April 14, 1836. 
When a young man he attended Brattleboro Academy 
and taught school in Brattleboro, Chesterfield, N. H. and 
Royalston. He also went to a music school in Boston and 
for six years taught singing school both juvenile and adult in 
the towns of Fitzwilliam and Richmond, N. H. and Royal- 
ston, Orange, Wendell, Wanvick, New Salem, Erving and 
Athol in Massachusetts. He went to Orange in 1859 where he 
was engaged in the dry goods business for 29 years; he was a 
meml^er of the school committee two years and assessor for 
sixteen consecutive years, and is a member of Orange lodge 
F. & A. M. 




AUGUSTUS J. FISIIRR 




EDWIN A. FISIIKR 



THE FISHER FAMILY 309 

He married Hattie A. Jennison of Orange Nov. 26, 
1862. She died in 1880 and he married second, Emma C. 
Richardson of Winchester, Mass., Aug. 1, 1883. He had no 
children by either wife. 

Horace Fisher, son of Jason Fisher, was born in Royalston 
Sept. 19, 1820. He always lived in Royalston and was a 
farmer and lumberman. He married Lucy J. Kendall of 
Sandoff, N. H. Jan. 14, 1846. He died in 1890. His children 
were Edwin Augustus, born July 17, 1847, a sketch of whom 
appears in another chapter of this history. Elmer H. born 
Aug. 6, 1851 married Avis Mahala Corey of Canada, July 7, 
1873; they have two children, Anna Ehzabeth born July 29, 
1874 and Leon Horace born July 1876; Elmer H. died at 
Los Angeles, Cal., Dec. 8, 1904; Cora J. Fisher born Aug. 20, 
1855, married George E. Woodbury of Royalston Apr. 17, 
1881; they have one son Chester Leslie, born Jan. 28, 1885. 
Mrs. Woodbury died ( .) 

Edward Everett Fisher born Jan. 16, 1853, married Mary 
Louise Leathe May 26, 1883, they had one daughter, Ethel 
May, born May 29, 1887. 

Feronda W. Fisher, son of Jason Fisher was born in 
Royalston April 23, 1829. He enlisted in the Fourth Ver- 
mont regiment in the Civil war and died in Orange, Mass. 
in 1909. 

Orvis Fisher, son of Jason, was born March 3, 1827. 
He was a member of the New Hampshire Cavalry in the 
Civil war, and died at Fortress Monroe in 1865. 



THE DAVIS FAMILY 

The Davis family, which has played an important part 
in the history of Royalston, from the time when Lt. John 
Davis came from Rehoboth, Mass. and settled in the 
west part of the town, traces its lineage back through the 
centuries to King Alfred of England. John Davis, the first 
member of the family to settle in Royalston, was born in 
Haverhill, Mass. Jan. 4, 1734 and moved to Rehoboth in 
1750, where he mairied in September, 1760, Joanna Hicks 
(Hix) who was the daughter of Benjamin and Anna (Orras- 
bee) Hix of Rehoboth, 



310 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

They moved to Royalston in 1778 and located upon a farm 
of two hundred acres in the west part of the town. He 
purchased the farm of James Otis of Barnstable, one of the 
original proprietors of Royalston, and paid two hundred and 
forty pounds for the same. He served in the war of the 
Revolution and attained the rank of 1st. Lieut. The govern- 
ment granted bim two hundred acres of land for his service. 
He died in 1764. 

His will mentions his wife Joanna and eleven children. 
They had thirteen children: Squire, John, Sylvester, Sara, 
Susanna, Joanna, Joseph, Benjamin, Asahel, Anna, Benjamin, 
Barney and Etniel. All but three of these were born in 
Rehoboth. 

(1) Squire Lcivis, oldest child of John and Joanna (Hix) 
Davis, was born in Rehoboth July 21, 1762. He remained 
there until he was sixteen years old living with his grand- 
father, John Davis, when he went with his father to Royal- 
ston. He served in the v/ar of the Revolution, and the town 
paid him six hundred dollars for his service, and he after- 
wards drew" a pension. 

He married Altbear Bullock, daughter of Moulton Bullock. 
She was born in 1763 and died sudderly July 13, 1813 aged 
fifty years. They had seven children born to them. He was 
Representative to the General Court from Royalston in 1823, 
and served the town as Selectman twenty-one years. 

(2) Joh7i Davis, second son of John and Joanna Davis, was 
};orn April 13, 1763. He came with his father to Royal- 
stcn in 1778, ard seived in the Revolution from Royalston, 
although at the tim.e he was but little over sixteen years 
of age, being mustered in July 6, 1779. He v/as granted 
a pension in 1833. He was a farm.er by occupation, and 
married Lorania Perry of New Salem in 1792. She was born 
March 14, 1761. They removed to New Hampshire where 
five children were born to them. He moved back to Royal- 
ston, and married, second, Lucy Dexter of Orange in 1806; 
they had six children. He died in 1846. 

(3) Sylvester Davis, born Oct. 21, 1764, died Aug. 20, 
1813 age 48 years. 

(4) Sarah Davis, daughter of John and Joanna (Hix) 
Davis, was born Nov. 4, 1766. She married in Royalston, 



THE DAVIS FAMII.Y J// 

Rev. Simeon Jacobs, a widower with six children, Dec. 8, 
1792. They had three children. She died 1853. 

(5) Susanna Davis, born July 18, 1768, died April 1770. 

(6) Joanna Davis, third daughter of John and Joanna 
Davis, born Feb. 17, 1770. Married William Weeks of 
Richmond, N. H. Dec. 12, 1815. She died in January, 1838. 

(7) Joseph Davis, son of John and Joanna (Hix) Davis, 
born at Rehoboth Oct. 18, 1771; removed to Royalston in 
1778 and married Sophia White, March, 1795. He was a 
farmer by occupation and ched in 1830. They had twelve 
children that grew up in Royalston. 

(8) Benjamin Davis, fifth son of John and Joanna (Hix) 
Davis, born Feb. 9, 1773, died, 1777 at the age of four years. 

(9) Asahel Davis, sixth son of John and Joanna (Hix) 
Davis, was born Feb. 19, 1775, moved to Royalston in 1778. 
Was a blacksmith and farmer. He married Deborah Mason. 
They had nine children, all born in Royalston. He died 
Jan. 7, 1859. 

(10) Anna Davis, youngest daughter of John and Joanna 
(Hix) Davis, born Oct. 12, 1776, married Henry Goddard 
of Royalston Feb. 22, 1802. They hved for many years on 
the old home place of John and Joanna (Hix) Davis. They 
had eight grown-up children. They spent the latter part of 
their life at the home of their son Davis Goddard in Orange. 

(11) Benjamin Davis, son of John and Joanna (Hix) 
Davis, born December 25, 1778; he married Priscilla Davis 
and died in Illinois. 

(12) Barney Davis, twelfth child of John and Joanna (Hix) 
Davis, born Sept. 24, 1780; he married Susan Thurston 
of Royalston. They lived in Floyd, N. Y. and raised up 
a large family of children. 

(13) Daniel Davis, youngest child of John and Joanna 
(Hix) Davis, was born Oct. 21, 1782. He died May 28, 1820, 
leaving a widow and four children in the western part of New 
York State. 

Squire and Althear (Bullock) Davis had seven children: 
Prudence, Cephas, John, Joseph, Althear, Benjamin and 
Olive. 

(1) Prudence Davis, oldest child of Squire and Althear 
(Bullock) Davis, was born May 20, 1787 and married Jacob 
Parker of Richmond, N. H. March 23, 1814. 



^22 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

(2) Cephas Davis, o\(\eiii son of Squire and Althear (Bullock) 
Davis, was born July 15, 1788, and died Nov. 11, 1813. 

(3) John Davis, the second son, was born Dec. 1, 1789. 
He married Polly Ccok of Richmond, N. H., Feb. 11, 1816. 

(4) Joseph Davis, third son of Squire and Althear (Bullock) 
Davis, was born July 18, 1792, married Tamarin Ballon, 
daughter of Oriel and Hannah (Robinson) Ballon of Richmond, 
N. H. Jan. 1, 1824. He was one of the largest landholders in 
Worcester Country owning over a thousand acres. He was 
a thorough business man, honest and upright in his dealings 
and held various responsible positions. He died in July, 1869 
and his wife died Jan. 6, 1879. 

Their children were: Franklin B. born Dec. 1825 died in 
1829; Emily born Dec. 1827 died in 1859; Tamma born Apr. 
12, 1829, married E. T. Warner, second, A. J. Fletcher. 
George B. born Sept. 1832, died 1839; George FrankHn born 
Sept. 1840 died 1862; Marie E. born Nov. 1841, married 
Charles T. Tandy, Dec. 6, 1866. 

(5) Althear Davis, the second daughter, was born June 19, 
1794. 

(6) Benjamin Davis, youngest son, was born July 2, 1800 
and died at the age of six months. 

(7) Olive Davis, youngest daughter of Squire and Althear 
(Bullock) Davis was born Sept. 6, 1803; married Adriel 
White Jan. 16, 1826. They had ten children. 

The children of Asahel and Deborah (Mason) Davis were: 
Cyrus, Elisha, Ansil, Hannah, Louisa, Daniel, Polly Mason, 
Hosea. 

(1) Cyrus Davis, oldest son of Asahel and Deborah (Mason) 
Davis, was born in Royalston, Oct. 15, 1799. He married 
Dulcena Gale of Royalston, Feb. 21, 1828. He was a farmer 
by occupation. He was Representative to the General Court 
from Royalston in 1840, and was one of the Selectmen of 
the town. He died in 1867. 

(2) Elisha Davis, second son of Asahel and Deborah (Ma- 
son) Davis was born May 30, 1801; married Hannah Peck 
June 14, 1829, and married (second) Sarah Morse. 

(3) Ansil Davis, third son of Asahel and Deborah (Mason) 
Davis, was born July 10, 1803. He married first, Lucretia 
Johnson who died in New Hampshire; he married (second) 
Caroline Dudley, by whom he had several children. 




DANIEL DAVIS 



THE DAVIS FAMILY J/J 

He attended New Salem Academy and taught school, 
liis education lieing better than the average farmer. He went 
to Boston and worked long enough to supply him with money 
to buy a small farm which he purchased in Chesterfield, N. H. 
Soon after moving on to his farm his wife died and he sold 
his place and moved to Orange, but after a while went to 
Warwick, which town he represented in the General Court 
•of Massachusetts. He died in Warwick in May, 1859. 

(4) Hannah Davis, oldest daughter of Asahel and Deborah 
(Mason) Davis, was born in Royalston, March 30, 1805. 
She married first (31iver M. Fisher of Wendell, Sept. 19, 1824, 
and married (second) Jonathan Wheeler of Athol, by whom 
she had seven children, two of whom are now living (1915), 
Mrs. Hollon Farr of Athol and Mrs. Bela Dexter of Rutland, 
Yt. 

(5) Louisa Davis, second daughter of Asahel and Del)orah 
(Mason) Davis, was born in Royalston, March 11, 1807. 
She was a school teacher and married Elbridge Boyden, a 
well known architect. She died in Worcester in 1888. 
They had three children. 

Daniel Davis, sixth child of Asahel and Del)orah (Mason) 
Davis, was born in Royalston, Fel). 4, 1899. He worked at 
home on the farm summers, attending school in the winter. 
At the age of seventeen he attended New Salem Academy 
for one term, and at eighteen he taught school in Richmond, 
N. H., receiving ten dollars a month and Ijoard. When nine- 
teen he went to Boston where he remained for six years. At 
the request of the clerk of Quincy Market, he was appointed 
a policeman, having charge of the market house, Faneuil Hall, 
also of the Customs House which at that time, was located in 
Faneuil Hall. 

When about twenty-five years of age lie was obliged to 
give up his work in Boston, owing to failure of health, the 
doctors telling him he could not live two years. He returned 
to the farm, and for a while taught school in Royalston, also 
in Orange; later he went out as salesman for Jonathan 
Wheeler, who then owned a large pail factory in Athol. He 
traveled over thirteen different states; also, was on the 
Atlantic for fourteen days during a storm, in which every one 
was seasick. After this his health was much improved. 



314 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

He married July 5, 1842, Miss Liicinda W. Stratton of 
Athol, who was a sister of Joel D. Stratton, widely known 
throughout the United States and Great Britain and Ireland, 
as the man who was the instrument of John B. Gough's 
reformation. They lived in Athol for several years during 
which time Mr. Davis was a member of the school committee 
of Athol for one year. In 1860 he returned to Royalston 
where he lived the remainder of his life. 

In 1832 he cast his first vote for President, voting for 
Andrew Jackson when he was elected for his second term. 
At one time he was a member of the Whig party, and was a 
delegate to the first Free Soil convention, where Daniel 
Webster was one of the speakers. He joined the Republican 
party when it was organized, and most of the time thereafter 
voted with that party, going three miles from his home in 
November, 1908, when he was within a few months of one 
hundred years of age to cast his vote for William H. Taft 
for President. 

He served the town of Royalston as Selectman, School 
Committee, Overseer of the Poor and Assessor, and was one 
of the Historical Committee on the occasion of the Centennial 
Anniversary of Royalston in 1865, and was also one of the 
Committee of Publication of the Royalston Memorial of that 
year. 

He prepared an address for and was present at the Old 
Home Week Celebration of Royalston held in August, 1910, 
when he was one hundred and one years and six months of 
age. He died March 30, 1912 at the age of one hundred 
and three years, one month and twenty-six days. Daniel 
and Lucinda (Stratton) Davis had six children. 

The children of Daniel and Lucinda (Stratton) Davis were: 
Thenais B. Davis, born in Athol, Feb. 12, 1843. She married 
June 4, 1872 Eugene T. Bixby of Sunderland, Mass. They 
had two children, Willie E. born in Sunderland March 20, 
1873 and died in Royalston, Feb. 5, 1898; Harry D. Bixby 
born in Royalston, Feb. 19, 1875. He married Maude E. 
Stone of Royalston, Sept. 25, 1900. They resided in Win- 
chendon and had one daughter, Louise S. born May 3, 1908. 
He died in 1915. 

Thenais married (2) Ezekiel V. Nelson of Royalston, 
May, 9, 1894, She died in Royalston, Apr. 10, 1910. 



THE DAVIS FAMILY J25 

Hosea D. Davis, oldest son of Daniel and Lucinda (Stratton) 
Davis was born April 2, 1845. He went to Boston when a 
yonng man, where he has ever since been in the business of a 
contractor and builder. He married Mar}- Davis of Boston. 
They have no children. 

Abby L. horn in Royalston Feb. 17, 1847, died April 1849. 

Emory A. born in Orange, Nov. 17, 1848. He went to 
California when a young man and engaged in the carpenter and 
contracting business. He is now retired from business. He 
never married. 

Charles S. Davis, third son of Daniel and Lucinda (Stratton) 
Davis, was born in Royalston, Aug. 29, 1851. Lived with his 
parents in Royalston and Athol until about nineteen years 
of age when he left home and after spending one year in 
Boston and one in Athol went to Minneapolis in January, 1874. 
He married Oct. 11, 1877 Emily Jacobs Forristall of Boston. 
They have no children. He was engaged with the D. M. 
Gilmore Furniture Co. in Minneapolis, as general foreman 
for about eleven years, and then was in the real estate 
business from that time until about 1900, when he was ap- 
pointed first truant officer of the public schools of Minneapolis, 
which position he has held ever since. He has more than 
forty thousand elementary school children, together with 
twenty-five private and parochial schools to look after and 
has two assistants and a clerk. He has been a memlier of 
the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis for over thirty- 
three years. 

Willie W. Davis, youngest child of Daniel Davis, was 
born in Athol, Sept. 25, 1854. He was engaged in the 
manufacture of furniture in Minneapolis for about twelve years, 
and then came East and was with the Mason & Hamlin Piano 
Co. in Boston about three years. He returned to Royalston 
about fifteen years ago and is engaged in the manufacture of 
lumber and the turning business, being a member of the firm 
of Newton & Davis. He never married. 

(7) Polly Mason Davis, daughter of Asahel and Deborah 
(Mason) Davis, was born in Royalston, July 28, 1812. She 
was a school teacher and married May 23, 185G, Chester 
Bancroft of Royalston born in 1808. They made their home 
in Worcester. She died in Worcester June 23, 1893. They 
had no children. 



316 HISTORY OF ROVALSTOX 

(8) Hosea Davia, youngest child of Asahel and Deborah 
(Mason) Davis, was born in Royalston, June 21, 1813. S33 
Sketch in Medical Chapter. 

The children of Joseph and Sophia (White) Davis were: 
Clarissa, Jai'\ds, Alvin, Lorenzo, Lo\'ina, Czarina, Cemantha,. 
Feronda. 

(1) Clarissa Davis, oldest daughter of Joseph and Sophia. 
(White) Davis, was born March 11, 1796. She married 
Luther Ballou, Dec. 3, 1818. She died in 18(36. 

(2) Jarvis Davis, oldest son of Joseph and Sophia (White) 
Davis, was bora Dec. 3, 1789. He represented the Town of 
Royalston in the Legislature of 1856, was a member of the 
board of selectmen five yeare, and of the assessors three years,, 
and was a justice of the peace. He died in 1876. 

(3) Alvin Davis, second son of Joseph and vSophia (White) 
Davis, was born Oct. 7, 1801. He married MeliitabelH. Berry 
in 1832 or 1833. He started for the gold fields of California^ 
but died at the Straits of Darien. 

(4) Lorenzo Davis, third son of Joseph and Sophia (White) 
Davis, was bora Oct. 16, 1803. He went to Putney, Vt. and 
married Rosana Gale in 1831. 

(5) Lovina Davis, second daughter, was l)orn April 7, 1806, 
married Lyman Peck, Jan. 15, 1829. They had six children. 

(6) Czarina Davis, third daughter of Joseph and Sophia 
(White) Davis, was born Aug. 7, 1808. She married Sulivan 
Peck of Royalston, May 29, 1831. They had five children. 

(7) Cemantha Davis, the youngest daughter, was born Dec. 
30, 1812. Married Charles Osgood of Boston, March 8, 1837. 

(8) Feronda Davis, the youngest child was born ALirch 23, 
1819 and died April 10, 1838. 

The children of Cyrus and Dulcena (Gale) Davis were: 
Marrissa, Helen, Emogene, Galphina, Jay, Dulcena, Cyrus. 

(1) Marissa Davis, oldest child of Cyrus antl Dulcena 
(Gale) Davis was born in Royalston, Dee. 4, 1828; she mar- 
ried Lewis H. Keyes. They moved to Athol soon after their 
marriage, which was their home most of their lives. 

She died in 1909 aged 81. They had four children: 
Carrie E., Ida F., Helen C. and Everett E. 

(2) Helen M. Davis, second daughter of Cyrus and Dulcena 
(Gale) Davis, was born March 8, 1831: she married AUiert 



THE DAVIS FAMILY 3l7 

Whitaker of New Salem, Sept. 18, 1855, which town was 
thereafter their home. They celebrated their golden wedding 
in 1895. Mr. Whitaker died in April 1907, and Mrs. Whitaker 
made her home with her daughter Mrs. Stella Skinner until 
her death. They had three children: Stella, A. W. Whitaker 
and Willie J. Whitaker. 

Stella married Herbert H. Skinner of North Dana; they 
have three children: Bernice, Margaret and Benjamin. 

A. W. Whitaker married Emily Howard of Keene, N. H.; 
they have two children, Emily and Ethel. They reside in 
Worcester where Mr. Whitaker is a practicing physician. 

WiU.ie J. Whitaker married Grace Hayden. They have 
one child, Vergalene and their home is in New Salem. 

(3) Emogene Davis, third daughter of Cyrus and Dulcena 
(Gale) Davis, was born April 1, 1836; she married Andrew 
J. Bennett of Richmond, N. H. They lived most of their 
married life in Oswego, N. Y., where Mr. Bennett was a rail- 
road conductor. They had three children, Fred, Lula and 
Lida Bennett. Mrs. Bennett died in Fel^ruary, 1908. 

(4) Calphina Davis, fourth daughter of Cyrus and Dulcena 
(Gale) Davis, was born Nov. 21, 1837. She married Dr. 
A. W. King of Plymouth, 111., where she died in 1868. They 
had one child Mary King, who married Robert Armstrong 
of Winnebago, 111. 

(5) Jaij Davis, son of Cyrus and Dulcena (Gale) Davis, 
was born Jan. 10, 1840. Enlisted in Co. L, 25th Regiment 
Mass. Volunteers. Was in the army until the regiment 
disbanded after returning home. He went to Illinois, where 
he married S. Ellis. Had one child, Robert E. Davis, a 
mining engineer at Butte, Montana. Jay Davis died in 1901 
aged 64 years. 



THE MORSE FAMILY 

The Morse Family which first became identified with 
Royalston history in the opening years of the nineteenth 
century was a family of importance and became connected 
by marriage with many of the prominent families of the town. 
This family traces its ancestry to one Samuel Morse, born in 
England in 1585, who came to New England in 1635, and 



Jig HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

settled in Watertown, Mass.; he removed to Dcdham in 1637, 
and died at Medfield, April 5, 1654. He brought with him 
from England his wife Elizabeth, who died June 20, 1654, 
also his son Joseph Morse, who was born in England in 1615, 
married Hannah Phillips of Watertown in 1638, and died in 
Dorchester in 1654. 

Russell Morse of the sixth generation from the above 
Samuel Morse, was born July 12, 1786, probably at Hub- 
bardston; he married Betsey Waite July 30, 1807. They 
settled in the north part of Royal ston on the place first 
settled by Thomas Perry, later the home of Ammi Faulkner, 
a leading town officer and moderator of town meetings. 

He was a thrifty farmer and a man of prominence in 
public affairs, represented the town in the General Court 
three terms, was Selectman nine years, and Assessor seven 
years when the election to that office was not combined with 
that of Selectman. He died Oct. 27, 1869, and his wife 
Betsey died Nov. 13, 1869. They had seven children: 
Nelson, Esther, Caroline, Ehza, Russell, Mary and Emehne. 

Nelson Morse, oldest son of Russell and Betsey (Waite) 
Morse, was born in Royalston Feb. 18, 1810, married Sarah 
Flagg and moved to Fitzwilliam, N. H., about 1840, and to 
Keene, N. H., about 1854, where he was for some years 
keeper of the Cheshire County jail, and aftei wards engaged in 
the real estate and auction business. He was one of the 
founders of the St. James Episcopal Church in Keene. He 
died in Keene Jan. 3, 1883, and his wife Sarah also died 
there. They had two children, one of whom died in infancy. 

Julius Nelson Morse, son of Nelson and Sarah (Flagg) 
Morse, was born in Royalston Aug. 5, 1840. When his parents 
removed to Keene in 1854 he entered the office of the Cheshire 
Republican and learned the printer's trade. After gaining some 
experience by working on other papers outside of Keere, in 
1865 he became part proprietor of the Cheshire Republican, 
and a little later sole proprietor, and continued as owner and 
editor until 1878, when he retired from active business. He 
was an active participant in the affairs of St. James Episcopal 
Church, a member of the Masonic fraternity, trustee of a 
savings bank, and vitally interested in humanitarian work 
and matters pertaining to the improvement of the com- 
munity. He married Jan. 23, 1888 Elizabeth W. Poole, who 



THE MORSE FAMILY j>/9 

died Sept. 28, 1869. He married (second) October, 1874 Anna 
M. Chase. He died Feb. 21, 1896. 

Esther Morse, daughter of Russell and Betsey Morse, was 
born in Royalston Jan. 2, 1813. She married George Chase 
of Royalston in 1836. They had five children. She died 
Dec. 18, 1906 at the age of ninety-three years and eleven 
months. She was well preserved ani did not appear to have 
a weakened sense, and had a glow in her open countenance 
seldom seen in one of her years. 

Caroline Chase, daughter of Russell and Betsey Morse, was 
born in Royalston Nov. 15, 1808. She married Chauncy 
Chase Dec. 2, 1830 and their home was in Boston until 1859 
when they removed to Royalston. 

Mary Morse was born in Royalston May 6, 1824, married 
Benjamin Bachelder Bartlett May 23, 1813; they had two 
children. 

Eliza Morse was born in Royalston Feb. 16, 1815; she 
married Elmer Bartlett; they had two children. She died in 
Cambridge Jan. 15, 1905. 

Russel Morse, Jr., son of Russell and Betsey Morse, was 
bom in Royalston May 17, 1819. He was interested in town 
affairs, was one of the building committee of the town hall, 
and a member of the committee of arrangements for the 
Centennial celebration of 1865. He married Mary Ann 
Stebbins of Vernon, Vt., Feb. 1, 1843. They had four 
children: Edmund Russell, Calista Stebb"ns, John Prescott 
and Jenner. 

Ejiieline, youngest daughter of Russell and Betsey (Waite) 
Morse, was born in Royalston Feb. 17, 1827. She married 
Josiah Wilder Sept. 19, 1854; he was born in Winchendon 
March 4, 1826; later on he lived in Royalston for some time 
and went to Cincinnati, Ohio a few years before his mar- 
riage, where he engaged in business. He died July 11, 1888. 
They had nine children: Florence Louise, born Feb. 4, 1857, 
married Dec. 5, 1878 Julius Friedeborn; they have one child, 
Ida Belle born Feb. 13, 1859, married June 21, 1883 Samuel 
M. Goodman; they have three children. William Hamlin, born 
Dec. 16, 1861, married June 10, 1884 Ella Taylor, who died in 
September, 1899; they had one child. William married Dec. 25, 
1907 Carrie Rothschild; they have two children. Nettie, born 
Nov. 8, 1863, married May 19, 1887 Howard Carey. Nellie, 



J20 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

born Nov. 8, 1863, married May 19, 1887 Lonsdale Green; 
they have three children. Carrie Chase, born July 4, 1866, 
married June 12, 1890 Albert Edward Brooks; they have four 
children. Emma Waite, born July 1, 1869; Mary Elizabeth, 
born June 23, 1871, died March 1874. Emeline (Morse) 
Wilder died Feb. 17, 1907 at the age of eighty years. 



THE LEATHE FAMILY 

Francis Leathe of Salem, a ship owner, is the immigrant 
ancestor of the family of that name in New England. He 
took the oath of allegiance at Topsfield or Rowley, Mass. in 
1678. The first member of the family to come to Royalston 
was Benjamin Leathe of the fifth generation. He was a son 
of Francis Leathe of the fourth generation, and was born in 
Woburn, Mass. Nov. 14, 1753. He is said to have partici- 
pated in that historic "Tea Party" in Boston harbor, and was 
a soldier in the Revolution, serving in the company of Cap- 
tain Samuel Sprague, of Chelsea, at the Lexington alarm. 
He married Lois Walton of Reading. He was a cordwainer 
or shoemaker, by trade, and after residing in Reading for a 
time settled in Royalston in the north part of the town, on 
the farm now owned by Frank B. Frye. He died in 1831 
and w^as succeeded by his son, Benj. Leathe, Jr. In 1805 he 
bought the Nathan Cutting place and settled his son John 
there, who died in 1885 and was succeeded by his son William 
H. Leathe, the present owner. 

The children of Benjamin and Lois (Walton) Leathe 
were: Benjamin, born in Reading Oct. 25, 1781; Lois, born in 
Reading, May 13, 1783, died Aug. 6, 1789; John, born in 
Reading, Jan. 21, 1785, died Aug. 7, 1789; Betsey, born in 
Royalston, May 17, 1787; Benjamin Jr., born in Royalston, 
May 19, 1790; Lois, born in Royalston, June 29, 1792, 
married Joseph Day of Winchendon, Dec. 12, 1837; John, 
born Oct. 24, 1794 and Samuel, born May 21, 1800, and died 
June 1, 1881. 

Benjamin Leathe, Jr., son of Benjamin and Lois (Walton) 
Leathe, was born in Royalston, May 19, 1790. He settled 
on the homestead deeded to him by his father in 1827. He 
married Paulina Chase, daughter of Silas and Diadama Chase, 




WILLIAM H. LEATHE 



THE LEATHE FAMILY 321 

Aug. 11, 1814. Their children were: John Walton, born Jan, 

22, 1815, married Folly Morse of ritzwilliam, N. H., Nov. 15, 
1828; William M., born March 22, 1821 of whom a sketch 
will be found in another chapter of this work; Paulina Ann 
born Aug. 8, 1828; Sarah Garfield, born June 11, 1823 and 
Benjamin Franklin, born Nov. 24, 1831. John Leathe, son of 
Benjamin and Lois (Walton) Leathe, was born in Royalston, 
Oct. 24, 1794. He lived on the place that he occupied at his 
death for more than seventy years. He was a man of great 
physical endurance, performing the most severe labor with no 
apparent fatigue until the approach of old age, and was an 
esteemed citizen of the town. He died in 1885 at the age of 
ninety-one years being at the time of his death the oldest 
person in town; he married Polly Morse of Fitzwilliam Nov. 
15, 1828. The children of John and Polly (Morse) Leathe 
were: Mary E., born Nov. 23, 1829, married Amos Hubbard 
of Royals- on; she died Aug. 16, 1600; their children: Eleanor 
M., born Sept. 5, 1849, married John McRae of Gardner; 
Ehzabeth M., born Dec. 19, 1851, married Calvin W. Wilson 
of Gardner; Flora F. born Feb. 20, 1856, married Sidney B. 
Fairbanks of Gardner; Estella C., born Sept. 20, 1864, died 
Sept. 30, 1866; Betsey W., born Feb. 10, 1831, died Sept. 6, 
1851; John F., born May 26, 1832, married Lucy L. Alger of 
Winchendon; their chilc'ren are: Walter F. leathe, born July 
26, 1860, and Mary L., who married Everett Fisher of Royal- 
ston; Rehekuh H., 1 orn Nov. 22, 1833, married Benjamin Alger 
of Winchendon; their son William B. Alger was born June 3, 
1867; Martha F., born Dec. 15, 1835, married James S. Piper 
of Royalston; Elvira R., born Aug 18, 1838, married Elma L. 
Hale of Winchendon; their daughter Alice E. Hale, born April 

23, 1873, died^April 22, 1889. Mrs. Hale died June 21, 1895. 

William H. Leathe, son of John and Polly (Morse) Leathe, 
was born in Royalston June 21, 1840, and succeeded his 
father on the farm which had come down from his gi'and- 
father and which has always been his home. He has always 
taken an active interest in town affairs, and was for many 
years on the Board of Assessors, serving from 1900 to 1913 
continuously. He has always been deeply interested in the 
history of the town, and probably no man living today is 
better posted on the history of the past than he. It was at 



322 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

his suggestion that the article regarding the pubheation of a 
town history was fiist put in town meeting warrant. 

He married Frances R. Williamson of Royalston March 13, 
1890. Their children are John H. Leathe, born Sept. 2, 1890, 
married Elsa Ruth Allsen of Boston, May 25, 1912; their 
home is in Royalston. 

Herbert H. Leathe, born July 13, 1895, lives at home 
with his parents. 



LYMAN STONE FAMILY 

Lyman Stone, for many years a leading citizen and town 
officer of Royalston, was born in Dover, Vt. March 4, 1825, 
the youngest of the seven children of Jonathan and Sophia 
(Miller) Stone. His father died when Lyman was four months 
old, and the mother had a hard fight to bring up the family. 
When five years old he went to Fitzwilliam, N. H. to live, 
which was his home until he was twenty-one years old. 
In that time he had accumulated by hard work and saving, 
four hundred dollars, and owned three suits of clothes. This 
was his freedom capital, and with it he set up a sawmill on 
Otter brook, at a place where these animals had built a dam. 
It was formerly Lieut. Allen's mill and was established 
more than a century ago. He carried on business at this 
mill for more than half a century when he leased the mill to 
his son-in-law, Herbert 0. Smith. 

He was married Feb. 14, 1850 to Miss Marilla Amanda 
Waste, daughter of Ebenezer and Lucinda (Grant) Waste 
of Whitingham, Vt., and took his bride to a house that he 
had just built across the street from his mill, and which was 
their home until the death of Mr. Stone, and is still the 
home of Mrs. Stone, it having been sixty-five years since she 
came there as a bride. Their golden wedding anniversary 
was celebrated there Feb. 14, 1900, when a family dinner was 
served to which thirty-nine persons, being descendants and 
their husbands and wives, sat down, and in the afternoon a 
public reception was held which was largely attended by the 
townspeople. Mr. Stone was prominent in town affairs, 
having been selectman, assessor, school committeeman, high- 
way surveyor many terms. He never was a member of any 



THE LEATHE FAMILY 323 

club or secret society. The only business he was engaged in 
was lumbering and the turning out of chair stock in which he 
did a large business, employing a number of men and teams, 
and in which he was engaged for fifty-four years. He had 
traveled considerable, having been to California, the West 
and South, and to Nova Scotia. Mr. Stone died Sept. 21, 
1900. They had nine children of whom eight are now 
living (1915). All were born in Royalston. 

The children of Lyman and Marilla Amanda (Waste) 
Stone were Edward Ljmian, born March 31, 1852; Clarence 
E., born Jan. 10, 1854, married Mary Isabel Averill of North 
Newcastle, Me. Jan. 10, 1876; Emma Marilla, born Nov. 24, 
1855, married. Sidney Tha3^er of Athol, Nov. 18, 1875; their 
home is in South Athol; Mary Lucinda, born Sept. 23, 1858, 
married James Grville Hayden of Boxboro, Mass. ; they live 
in Somerville, Mass.; Hattie Maria, born Oct. 15, 1862, 
married George E. Carkins of New Hampshii-e July 4, 1882; 
Julia Lillian, born June, 4, 1866, married Alonzo Sanderson 
Parker of Athol; Cora Viola, born May 7, 1868, married 
George H. Eichards Dec. 24, 1892; Lizzie Amelia, born Dec. 
11, 1869, died Feb. 23, 1870; AHce Ella, born Jan. 11, 1871, 
married Herbert Oliver Smith of Troy, N. H. Nov. 24, 1898. 

Eduard Lyman Stone, oldest son of Lyman and Marilla 
(Waste) Stone was born in Royalston, March 31, 1852. He 
attended school in the old No. 2 District, and also went for 
three Fall teims to the High School at Royalston Centre. At 
nineteen years of age he left school and went to work in his 
father's sawmill in Royalston. On March 31, 1875 he mar- 
ried Emma Frances Collins of Fitzwilliam, N. H., who was 
born in Wai-wick, Mass., Oct. 9, 1853. They lived in Royal- 
ston until Nov. 1, 1877, when they moved to Fitzwilliam 
Depot, N. H., where Mr. Stone became a member of the 
firm of Burbank & Stone, and started in the sawmill and 
grist mill business, cutting out pail s-t-ock, lumber, etc. In 
1878 the partnership was dissolved, after which the l)usiness 
went under the name of E. L. Stone. In April, 1894 the 
mill was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt the same year. 
He continued in the chair business and the getting out of 
lumber, boxes, etc., until May 1, 1913, when he transferred the 
business to his son, R. W. Stone, who has since conducted it. 



^24 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

Edward Lyman and Emma (Collins) Stone had two. 
children: Robert Waldo, born Aug. 7, 1862 and Cora Viola 
Stone, born in Royalston, May 9, 1869, married in Royalston 
by Rev. A. M. Rice to George Henry Richards of Hubbard-, 
ston, Mass., Dec. 24, 1891; they had four children born in 
Royalston, Fitzwilliam, N. H. and Athol. Mr. Richards 
died June 9, 1909. Mrs. Richards resides in Athol. 

Julia Lillian Stone, l)orn in Royalston June 4, 1866, married, 
in Royalston by Rev. Milton Pond to Alonzo S. Parker of 
Athol, June 17, 1885; they had two children born in Royal- 
ston and Temple ton. 



ELDER WIGHTMAN JACOBS FAMILY 

The Jacobs family of Royalston are descended from Nath- 
aniel Jacobs, who is believed to have been bjrn in Bristol, R. L, 
July 6, 1683, and was married Oct. 22, 1713, to "Mary, sister 
of Rev. Valentine Wightman," who planted the first Baptist 
church in Connecticut in 1705. According to tradition he was 
descended from Edward Wightman, the last man burned for 
heresy in England in 1612. 

Nathaniel Jacobs removed from Bristol to Woodstock, 
Conn., about 1730, and later to Thompson, Conn., in a section 
sparsely settled, bordering on primeval forest. His place be- 
came one for rest and refreshment to many travelers from 
Connecticut or Boston, and in later years became popular 
and widely known tis the H^ If-way House between Boston and 
Hartford, and during the Re/olutionary War the "Old Jacobs 
Tavern" entertained many well-known leaders and officers. 
Young Nathan Hale, on his journey to Boston one cold morning 
in the winter of '76, reports "breakfasting at Jacobs' Tavern." 
Its most distinguished guest was the first American, General 
Washington, who breakfasted at the house of "one Jacobs," 
when returning from Boston on the first Presidential Tour 
November 7, 1789. The old tavern had traditions of romance 
as well as of business and public affairs. 

Wightman Jacobs, son of Nathaniel, became a leader among 
the Baptists when a young man, and was selected as their pastor, 
being formally ordained and installed in service in 1750, the 
first minister raised up in Thompson. He remained pastor of 



THE ELDER WIGHTMAN JACOBS FAMILY 325 

this church nearly twenty years, and in 1769 removed to 
Royalston, Mass., and was the first settled pastor of the West 
Royalston Baptist church, being installed Dec. 13, 1870, and 
served the church as pastor for sixteen years. A part of this 
time his home was in the northerly part of Athol, on Chestnut 
Hill, being the farm now owned and occupied by Frank W. 
Whitney; while another place that was his abode for some time, 
was half way up "Jacobs' Hill'' where Mr. Clement resided for 
many years. He died at the home of his son, Joseph, in Royal- 
ston March 28, 1801, from a fall. He was one of the strong and 
dominating characters of early Royalston history, and his in- 
fluence has been felt all through the years, his descendants 
having been prominent and useful citizens of Royalston and 
other towns and cities of New England and the country. Her- 
bert Adams, the well-known sculptor, is a descendant of Elder 
Wightman Jacobs in the fifth generation. 



SIMEON JACOBS, JR., FAMILY 

Simeon Jacoljs, Jr., was born February 5, 1783. He married 
Molly Kenney April 10, 1805, and lived on the farm now owned 
by Myron W. Sherwood, where he was one of the old time land- 
lords, his home being one of the taverns of the town. He died 
Sept. 4, 1824, at the age of forty-one, leaving a family of nine 
boys, the oldest of whom was less than nineteen years of age, and 
the youngest a little over a year at the time of his father's death. 
The children were: Ira, born Dec. 17, 1805, married Emeline 
Cohen in 1829; Isaac, born Dec. 22, 1807; Moses, born Nov. 
25, 1809, married Lydia Clark of Howard Patent, N. Y., in 
1836; Sumner, born Jan. 12, 1812, married Susan Clapp in 1835, 
and second, Mary Higgins in 1845; Simeon, born April 11, 1814, 
married Ann Lomans of Columbia, Conn., and their descend- 
ants are now living in that vicinity; Horace, born April 5, 1816, 
married Emily Owen of Westfield, Mass., whose father owned 
a large part of Mount Tom. His early education was obtained 
in the schools of Royalston. He became an eminent physician 
of Springfield. His children were: Dr. Chauncy A. Jacobs and 
Mary Jacobs of Springfield; Horace Jacobs of Boston, Rachel B, 
Jacobs, who was one of the foremost women of Springfield, 
a graduate of Vassar College, for twelve years a member of 



J26 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

the school committee of Springfield and active in both church 
and charity matters; and Miriam Jacobs who married Rev. 
A. F. Rice, a prominent Methodist minister of the New England 
Conference; Enoch, born Feb. 5, 1819; and Alonzo, born in 
1821; Philander Jacobs, the youngest member of the family 
born July 3, 1823, was adopted by a family by the name of 
Forristal and was thenceforth known as Philander Jacobs 
Forristal. He married Sally Ann Pitman of Boston March 
26, 1846, and became a prominent merchant in Boston. He 
bought the old home of his father in Royalston for a summer 
residence, where his family spent their summers for many years. 



FRANCIS JACOBS FAMILY 

Francis Jacobs, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Bennett) 
Jacobs, was born Aug. 13, 1807. He was a farmer, a man of 
sterling character, and was closely identified with the work of the 
Baptist church in West Royalston, being one of its deacons. He 
married Parney Goddard of Royalston Nov. 28, 1837. Their 
children were: Thomas A., born Sept. 21, 1838, he was drowned 
Aug. 8, 1860; Czaranina White, born June8, 1841, married Erwin 
J. Fuller of Mariboro, N. H., Sept. 16, 1865; and Bela J. Jacobs, 
born Nov. 5, 1839. His early life was that of an ordinary farmer's 
boy. Hiseducation was received in the district school and Shel- 
burne Falls academy and Powers Institute, Bernardston, Mass. 
He worked on the farm summers and taught school winters for 
several years. In company with Erwin J. Fuller he went to 
Leominster in 1867, and bought out a drug store to which they 
afterwards added groceries. In 1881 he went to Natick and 
went into the hardware store of W. D. Parlin as salesman. 
He has been an active worker \n the Baptist church and Sunday 
school in the different places where he has resnled, and has been 
a teacher in the Sunday school almost continuously for over 
fifty years. After going to Natick he was chosen clerk of the 
church and one of the senior deacons. He married Mary A. 
Stowell of Claremont, N. H., Nov. 29, 1866. She died Nov. 
1, 1870. They had two children: Etta M., born Feb. 27, 1868; 
and Irving S., born Nov. 1, 1870. 

Etta M. married W. Cook of Natick, optician and jeweler. 



THE FRANCIS JACOBS FAMILY 327 

Irving S., married Grace E. Mansfield of Everett. He is 
in the clothing business in Natick, firm name, Jacobs and 
Southland. 

Bela J. Jacobs married (2) Josephine C. Walker of New 
Brunswick Oct. 10, 1871. Two children: Ernest L., born Jan. 
19, 1873, and Helena J., born Nov. 10, 1874. Ernest L. married 
Ellen J. Hardie of Natick; he is in the dry goods firm of W. H. 
Colby and Co., Natick. Helena J. married Lloyd Brown of 
Keene, N. H., a graduate of Brown university, they live in 
Detroit, Mich. 

Whitman Jacobs, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Bennett) 
Jacobs was born Sept. 11, 1809, in West Royalston. The chil- 
dren of Whitman Jacobs were: Alonzo W. Jacobs, born Feb. 
25, 1853; George D., who died in 1884; Rufus M., who lived 
in Putney, Vt.; and John T. of West Royalston. 

Alonzo W. Jacobs was in the market business in Athol for a 
short time and then went to Greeley, Colorado, in 1878. He 
soon after started in the meat busmess which he continued in 
the same place for thirty-six years, being one of the oldest firms 
in the city. He retired from business in 1914 and is now looking 
after his extensive farming interests. He married Lillian Brock- 
way of New Brunswick, May 30, 1883. They had two sons. 



THE CLEMENT FAMILY 

The Clement family of Royalston are descended from a 
Presbyterian minister of Scotland, who in a time when the 
Catholic religion prevailed, with his family and many others 
emigrated to Ulster county, Ireland, for the sake of religious 
liberty. He had three children, one of whom, James Clement, 
was the first one of the family to come to America. He married 
Lydia Harris and settled in Massachusetts. 

William Clement, one of the early settlers of Royalston, 
settled on the road leading from Lieut. Jonas Allen's place to 
the common. He was a soldier of the Revolution and was in 
the battle of Bunker Hill. He married Anna Nichols, daughter 
of Henry Nichols, March 30, 1780. They had nine children, 
all born in Royalston, of whom two died in infancy: Isaac, 
born Oct. 16, 1780, married Mary Town, daughter of William 
Town, Aug. 9, 1801; EHzabeth, born April 5, 1782, married Asa 



^2S HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

Bacheller, son of Dr. Stephen Baeheller, Fen., June 2, 1805; 
Sally, born Dec. 24, 1784, married Oct. 10, 1803, Isaac Prouty, 
who bought the farm and tannery that was established by 
William Brown; Mercy, born March 17, 1789, married Ira 
Bragg Nov. 18, 1810; William, born Dec. 7, 1786; Dilly, born 
Oct. 4, 1794; and Charlotte, born Nov. 19, 1796. About 1810 
William Clement, with a part of his family moved to Croyden, 
N. H., where he died at the age of eighty-five. 

William Clement, Jr., who went to Croyden with his father, 
married Rosanna Cooper of Croyden and later returned to 
Royalston; had four .children: Benjamin F., Sylvander, William 
and Jane R., who married Ebenezer Whitney, Aug. 13, 1848. 

Benjamin F. Clement, son of William Clement, Jr., was 
born in Croyden, N. H., Aug. 29, 1812, and died June 8, 1851. 
He had five children: Henry S., born March 19, 1835; Will A., 
born Feb. 2, 1841, died Dec. 24, 1864; Edna, born Aug. 3, 1839, 
died Nov. 18, 1857; Asa B., born April 10, 1849, died Nov. 18, 
1905; Dwight E., born Nov. 9, 1836. 

Duright E. Clement, son of Benjamin F. Clement, born Nov. 
9, 1836. He lived in Royalston before his marriage and since 
then has lived in Tully where he has been engaged in farming. 
He had three children: Charles, born March 11, 1868, and died 
in July 1868; Cora E., born June 27, 1869; and Walter H., born 
Aug. 26, 1870. 

William- W. Clemvit, was born in Croyden, N. H., May 14, 
1819. He came to Royalston with his father and was engaged 
in farming. He became prominent in town affairs serving on 
the board of selectmen from 1859 to 1865 inclusive, and was 
also on the board of assessors. He went into market gardening 
near Boston for a few years, but leturned to Royalston and was 
again one of the selectmen from 1871 to 1875 inclusive and also 
an assessor. He also represented this district in the legislature 
of 1866. During the latter part of his life, his home was what 
has been known as the Joseph T. Nichols place on the common. 
He died Aug. 11, 1876. 



THE ESTEY FAMILY 

One of the most prominent families of the earliest settlers 
of Royalston was the Estey family, whose name is said to have 



THE ESTEV FAMILY 329 

been derived from the colony of Padua, Italy, in the seventh 
century. The members of the family soon spread westward 
and now they are to be found in France, England and America. 
The American branches of the family were said to have been 
planted by three brothers who came from England. Jeffrey 
Estey (or Easty as the name frequently appeared), was an 
early settler at Salem and Beverly. He was probably a Quaker. 
His wife, Elizabeth, bore him two children, Edward and Isaac. 
Isaac, known as Sergeant Eastey, lived in Topsfield, Mass., and 
was selectman of that town from 1681 to 1687. His wife, Mary, 
born in Yarmouth, England, who came with her parents, William 
and Joanna (Blessing) Towne, was a victim of the Salem witch- 
craft persecutions and was executed Sept. 22, 1692, as had been 
her sister, Rebecca Nourse, previously. Jacob, son of Isaac 
and Mary Eastey, the fifth son in the family of nine children, 
inherited the homestead and lived in Topsfield. He was select- 
man in 1725 and died in 1732. His wife, Lydia Elliott, bore 
liim five children. (3f these, Isaac, born in 1715, lived in Tops- 
field, Mass., until 1740. when he removed to Sutton, Mass., 
and subsequently settled in Royalston som.etime before 1767, 
for that year he was one of the selectmen of Eoyalston. 
His aged mother came to town with him, and rode in a chaise, 
which it required several men to steady and help over the ob- 
structions of the way. She was the first adult female that died 
in Rovalston. He settled the first place west of the common, 
near the foot of Jacob's Hill, so-called. He was one of the 
eight persons who "embodied" with the 1st Baptist church 
of Royalston in 1768, and became its first deacon. He was a 
man of considerable property and a highly respected citizen. 
He married Sirah Gould Nov. 1, 1743. He died in 1792. His 
wife, Sarah Goukl, bore him two children, Jacob and Kepsil:)ah. 
Jacjh Estey, son of Isaac and Sarah (Gould) Estey was 
born Aug. 10, 1744; he came to Royalston with his father, and 
inherited the homestead and also succeeded his father as deacon 
of the Baptist church. Ele was a man of importance in town 
affairs, serving on the board of selectmen for several years, also 
assessor and school committee, and was on many important 
committees. He married Sarah Chamberlain. They both 
died in 1829, aged respectively eighty-five and eighty years. 
The children of Jacob and Sarah (Chamberlain) Estey were: 
Isaac, Sarah. Israel, John, Joseph and Pollc}'. 



j:jq history OF ROYALSTON 

Isaac Esteij, the eldest son and his brother Israel settled 
in Hinsdale, N. H., where they built a saw mill and engaged 
in the manufacture of lumber. The enterprise, however, proved 
far from prosperous, and as the statute law then permitted im- 
prisonment for debt, under its provisions Isaac Estey was 
arrested and thrown into the county jail as a debtor. Upon 
his release he resorted to agriculture for the support of himself 
and family, and passed the remainder of his life in that pursuit. 
His wife was Patty Forbes, daughter of James and Abigail 
Forbes, who bore him eight children. 

Jacob Estey, sixth child of Isaac and Patty (Forbes) Estey, 
was born in Hinsdale, N.H., Sept. 30, 1814. When four years 
old he was adopted by a wealthy family in Hinsdale, and after 
spending nine years under their roof, at the age of thirteen he 
left his foster parents and walked to Worcester, Mass., where 
one of his older brothers resided. The following four years 
he labored upon farms in the towns of Rutland, Millbury and 
vicinity. When seventeen years old he apprenticed himself 
to a firm in Worcester in order to learn the plumber's trade and 
the manufacture of lead pipe. Before he attained his majority 
he resolved to establish himself in business and for this purpose 
he removed to Brattleboro, Vt., where he commenced busi- 
ness with his hard earned savings of $200 as sole capital. From 
the beginning he was successful, and established a reputation 
for ability and probity whii h he always retained. In 1848 he 
erected a large building and rented the upper part of it to the 
proprietors of a small melodeon factory, Init as they were unable 
to pay the rent, Mr. Estey accepted in 1850 an interest in their 
business in payment of his claims and a few years afterwards 
purchased the entire establishment. He devoted much time to 
this new industry and in the course of a few years thought best 
to dispose of his plumbing business and give his attention ex- 
clusively to the making of organs. He erected a second and 
larger building, but in the fall of 1857 both buildings were 
destroyed by fire. He rebuilt at once, but in 1864 the new 
establishment was also destroyed by fire, but he promptly 
erected a much larger building. In 1866 his son-in-law, Levi 
K. Fuller, and his son, Julius J. Estey, were admitted to part- 
nership with himself. In 1869 a new location was secured and 
large buildings erected to accommodate the rapidly increasing 
business, which developed into Brattleboro's leading and besi 



THE ESTKY FAMILY JJ/ 

known industry. Mr. Estey was always a strong advocate 
of the republican party and in 18G8 and 1869 represented Brattle- 
boro in the state legislature and was also a member of the state 
senate from Windham county in the biennial sessions of 1872 
and 1874. He was one of the principal movers in the organiza- 
tion of the First Baptist church in Brattleboro in 1840 and 
was during his life one of its most active and liberal supporters, 
holding the position of deacon, as did his grand-father and 
great grandfather in the early history of the Royalston church. 
His death on April 15, 1890, was a great loss to the community 
in which he had lived so many years. He was married May 2, 
1837, to Desdeniona, daughter of David and Anna (Kendall) 
Wood of Brattleboro. They had three children, the eldest of 
whom died young; the others were: Abby E., and Julius J. Estey. 



THE GARFIELD FAMILY 

The first membei of the Garfield family connected with 
L'oy^lston history was Joshua Garfield who was born in Shrews- 
bury, Mass., Dec. 23, 1751. He was a soldier in the Revolution, 
and went to Warwick where he bought a farm, which he after- 
wards exchanged for one in Royalston to which place he moved 
'n 1784. He married Abigail Rawson of Sutton, Mass. They 
had eleven children, the six youngest of whom were born in 
Royalston. The oldest son, Charles, settled in Ohio about 1830; 
Artemas and Caleb settled in Vermont; Joshua, twin brother 
of Caleb, died young, as did John, twin brother of Abigail- 
Lucy married Gideon Horton Dec. 16, 1801; Nelly married 
David Cook July 16, 1815; Hannah married Eliphalet Chase 
July 28, 1813; and Anna married Sylvester Walker of Townsend, 
Vt., March 31, 1813, Joshua Garfield d-ed May 6, 1828, aged 
seventy-six years, and Abigail his wife died March 15, 1831, 
aged seventy-five years. 

Moses Gcvjield, second son of Joshua and Abigail (Rawson) 
Garfield, was born in Warwick Dec. 7, 1777. He married Mary, 
daughter of Aaron and Mary (Woodbury) Bliss, Feb. 6, 1799; 
she died Aug. 3, 1836. They bought the farm previously owned 
by his father, Joshua. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and 
was a farmer in Royalston all his active life. 



:?72' HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Moses :ind Mary (Bliss) Garfield bad twelve children: Ira, 
Eri, Mary and Joshua died in infancy; Gardner, born Nov. 5, 
1805; Ansel H., April 21, 1807; Andrew B., Jan. 8, 1809; Susan 
M., March 25, 1811; Nancy A., Feb. 9, 1813, Moses; Oct. 11, 
1816; A1)igail R., July 16, 1820; Julia A., Aug. 17, 1825; Gard- 
ner Garfield married Fanny Kennedy; Ansel H. mairied Elvira 
Raymond Nov. 8, 1838. These brothers owned adjoining 
farm, and occupied a large house, each owning half, situated 
at the "city" so called. Gardner died Mar. 2, 1883, aged seventy- 
S3ven years and Fanny, his wife, died Nov. 16, 1888, at the 
age of seventy-nine years. Ansel H. died Nov. 14, 1857, aged 
fifty and Elvira his wife Oct. 8, 1852, aged forty-nine. 

Andrew Bliss Garfield, son of Moses and Mary (Bliss) 
Garfield, born at Royalston, Jan. 8, 1809. He received his 
education in the schools of his native town and worked during 
his youth and early manhood on the farm. He learned the 
trade of millwright while a young man. He settled hi Mill- 
bury, Mass., and worked on the construction and changes of 
many of the mills of the Blackstone valley, in which he accu- 
mulated a fortune. He married Jan. 8, 1835, Hannah D. Dwinell 
of Millbury; she died April 3, 1892. They had six children: 
Moses Dwinell, Andrew Paine, Hannah Eliza, Julia God- 
dard, Susan Maria and Leonard Dwinell. Abigail R. Garfield 
married Wilcut Harwood of Barre, Mass., in 184-1. He fol- 
lowed the occupation of a farmer all his life. They had two 
children: Julia Maria, wife of David B. Hilton of Barre; and 
Emma, wife of Andrew P. Garfield. Mrs. Harwood died April 
7, 1900, the last one of the twelve children of Moses and Mary 
Bliss Garfield. 

Moses Garfield, Jr., son of Moses and Mary (Reed) Garfield, 
was born in Royalston Oct. 11, 1816. He married Mary Salina 
Boom of Richmond, N. H., Dec 21, 1848. He died Oct. 9, 1899; 
and his wife, July 14, 1899. They had five children: INIary 
Abbie, l)orn Dec. 13, 1849, and died in Royalston June 20, 1880, 
of consumption, she had taught twenty-one terms of school; 
Ellen Salina, born Jan. 25, 1851, and after teaching school foi 
a few years married James C. Prentice of Warwick. She diet! 
in TuUy July 28, 1910; Julia Elvira, born in Richmond, N. H., 
she taught school for awhile and then married Charles Richardson 
of Roynlston, they ha;l one son, Charles Ernest; Fannie Maria, 
died in infancy; Flora Jane, born in Royalston Oct. 6, 186!^ 





MOSRS GARFIKIJ), JR. 



WILLIAM W. CLKMENT 




STKPIIKN RICHARDSON 



THE GARFIELD FAMILY . JJJ 

after teaching a few terms of school she married, Dec. 24, 1881, 
Thomas C. Butterworth of Royalston as his second wife. Mr. 
Butterworth was born in Worcester Jan. 17, 1849, and was a 
steam-fitter by trade. They had four children. Mr. Butter- 
worth died Jan. 16, 1912. The farm is now carried on by a son, 
Spencer Garfield Butterworth, who was born in Royalston 
Oct. 30, 1895. 



THE SHEBNA PAINE FAMILY 

Shchna Paine was born in Greenwich, Mass., Nov. 4, 1801. 
His ancestors were among the early settlers of Truro, Mass., 
on Cape Cod. When he was about 16 years old his father was 
lost at sea and on the son devolved the care of his widowed 
mother and an invalid brother. Later on he learned the shoe- 
maker's trade serving an apprenticeship for several years. 
About 1828 he came to Royalston and bought a small tract 
of land of Nathaniel Bragg on which he bu^lt a shop and his 
house. He worked at his trade for about twenty-five years 
and in that time made the shoes for most of the people for miles 
around. His health at that time forbade his work in-doors, 
and the rest of his life he spent farming. He was married Jan. 
5, 1830, to Almira Conant of Warwick. She was born April 
21, 1806, in Warwick, and her ancestors on ])oth sides were 
among the earliest settlers of that town. He brought her to 
the home he had built for her where they both spent the rest 
of their long and useful lives. She died Jan. 12, 1878, and he 
died May 4, 181 9, aged 87 years, six months. They were devoted 
workers in the cause of religion, education and temperance 
and were held in high esteem by the people of the town. Six 
children were born to them, two of whom died in infancy. The 
children were: Charles G. G., Sarah Leonard, Mary Elizabeth 
and Ellen Almira. 

Charles G. G. Paine, oldest child of Shebna and Almira 
(Conant) Paine, was born Sept. 30, 1833, in Royalston. He 
fitted for college at Royalston and Ware high schools and grad- 
uated from Amherst college in 1861, being Salutatorian of his 
class. After graduating he was principal of the Grafton high 
school and later teacher of Greek and Latin in the Highland 
Military Academy, Worcester, principal of the Cambridge 



jjjf. HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

Classical institute, superintendent of the schools of the American 
missionary association for the Freedmen, Hampton, Va., teacher 
in the Boston Latin school and of mental science in the Chicago 
high school, and was teaching in Detroit, Mich., when he died 
suddenly of heart failure in 1892. He married, Dec. 31, 1863, 
Linda T., daughter of John T. Whitney of Milton, Mass. He 
was survived by one daughter, Lillie W. Paine, who has been 
a successful teacher in the high school of Detroit for nearly 
twenty-five years. 

Sarah L. Paine was born Aug. 21, 1835. She was a student 
at Mount Holyoke seminary, and from there went to Ashtabula, 
Ohio, where she taught for five years in the grammar school 
of that city. She married Amos C. Fish, a flour dealer and 
prominent business man of that place, Aug. 21, 1861. He died 
in 1891. They had an adopted daughter. Kit tie Clover Fish, 
who resides with her mother, and one son, Amos P. Fish, an 
electrician of Philadelphia, Pa. 

Manj E. Paine was born Aug. 10, 1841. She was a student 
at Mt. Holyoke seminary and in 1864 graduated from the 
state normal school at Salem. She had planned to spend her 
time in teaching, but her health did not allow her to do so. 
She still resides at the old home which has been in the Paine 
family about eighty-five years. She is especially interested 
in the study of the birds of Royalston. 

Ellen A. Paine was born Nov. 30, 1844. She graduated 
from the Salem normal school in 1864, after which she spent 
several years in teaching. She married Barnum A. Searle of 
Southampton, Mass., Nov. 12, 1872. He was a successful 
farmer in Royalston and Athol for over thirty years. Several 
years ago they removed to his native town of Southampton. 
Two children were born to them in Royalston. 

Sarah Paine Searle, horn Nov. 11, 1874, married Fred N. 
Clark, a farmer of Easthampton, Mass., they have one daughter, 
Zoe Searle Clark. 

Frederic L. Searle, born Nov. 13, 1876, is a machinist in 
Athol, Mass. He married Ruth A. Randall of Athol, and they 
have a son, Randall Brooks Searle. 



THE PRATT FAMILY 33S 

THE HEYWOOD FAMILY 

Silos Heywnod married Hannah Goddard of Shrewsbury, 
Mass., Nov. 11, 1779. He settled on a farm in Royalston in 
the northeast part of the town about 1780. His family was one 
of the sufferers in the epidemic of 1795, five of his children dying 
in that year. He was succeeded on his farm by his son, Silas, 
Jr., who married Hannah Heywood of Winchendon. 

Solymon Heyvood married Harriet Holman Nov, 25, 1829. 
Their children were: Sidney Holman, born Jan. 24, 1831, and 
died Aug. 18, 1833; Stephen Holman, born Sept. 4, 1833; Sid- 
ney Solymon, born Oct. 30, 1839, Mary Jane, born Aug. 10, 
1837; and Harriet EHzabeth, born Jan. 3, 1841. 

Sidney Solymon Heywood enlisted in Co. A, 21st regiment 
Massachusetts volunteers. He served three years and was 
wounded three times. After the war he lived in Holyoke, Mass., 
New York City, and for many years in Jackson, Mich., where 
he had a large flour mill and was one of the prominent business 
men of the city, being president of the Eldred Milling Co. He 
married Clara Jane Chapin of Rochester in 1870. She died 
the same year and he married second, Mary Adelaide Lyman 
of Jackson in 1878. Mr. Heywood was a man quiet in manner, 
quaint in expression and impressed himself strongly in the 
affection and respect of all whom he was thrown in contact 
with. He died at Jackson June 17, 1911. He had three sons, 
Sidney and Stephen of Jackson, Harry of Indianapolis, Ind., 
and two daughters, Mrs. Gilbert Loomis of Detroit, and Mrs. 
John Bennet of Jackson. A sketch of Stephen Holman Heywood 
appears in the Biographical chapter. Harriet Elizabeth Hey- 
wood married Joseph P. Estabrook. 



THE PRATT FAMILY 

The place known for many years as the Pratt place on the 
road leading from Athol to Richmond, N. H., was first settled 
by Daniel Warren, and afterwards came into possession of 
Jabez Pratt, who had a blacksmith shop there and carried on 
business as long as he was able to work. He married Rebecca 
Shepardson July 23, 1799, and died July 21, 1847. They had 
five children: Alden, Daniel, Jabez, Sally and John. 



jjl^ HISTORY OF ROYAL vSTON 

1. Alden Pratt married Achsa Fisher, sister o' Jason Fishci, 
Aug. 27, 1822. He was a farmer and lived on a farm near the 
Baptist Common; made acqueduct pipes. Afterwards lived 
in Petersham and Templeton where he worked in saw mill, 
running the old up and down saws. Thev had nine children: 
Julia, married George Harrington of Templeton; Christina, 
married Nahum Mace of Orange; A //red, never married and 
died about thirty years of age; Miranda married Hammond 
Bosworth of Roynlston; Marij, married Edward Prouty ()f 
Templeton; Ellen, died when a young woman; Emihj, married 
Silas Bosworth of Royalston; GVor^/e, n arried Cordelia Gay of 
Orange. 

2. Danie^. Pratt married Bathsheba Delva of Warwick. 
He lived on the home farm and cared for his father. After- 
wards lived in Petersham and was a teamster. They had 
thirteen children: Eunice, married a Shepardson of Cnpt. 
Mudge's company; Gilhert, married Julia Delana: they had 
two sons, Eugene 0. Pratt now engaged in the hardware bus"ne?s 
in Clinton, and J. Golan Pratt now engaged in the grocery busi- 
ness in Marlboro, Mass. Joel died when eighteen years old; 
Sally died young; John died when a boy; Sally became a cripple 
when sixteen years old and lived to be over seventy years of 
age; Hannah died young; Pcrsis, married Levi Newton of New 
Salem; John married Alice Stone, and married (2) Jennie M. 
Haskins, lived in Royalston, Petersham and North Dana, drove 
team when young and was a peddler 35 years; Ia7/m, married 
J. A. Houghton of Petersham; Marj, married George S. Talcott 
of Connecticut and lived in Gardner; Lucy, married E. L. Taft 
of New London, Conn. 

3 Jabez Pratt married Laura Farrar in 1823. Went to 
Boston and worked in a brick yard the first summer. Ab^out the 
time of his marriage he and his wife united with the Methodist 
church and he received a local preacher's license. He was the 
only coroner in the city for many years and officiated in the 
Webster (Parkman) murder case. Was Deputy Sheriff for a 
long time. He had two sons: George M., the oldest, had talents 
as a musician. He went to Europe and studied music, and 
soon after his return opened a house on Beacon street, when 
he was taken sick with small pox and died. The stroke was too 
heavy for the father to bear and he soon died at the age of fifty- 
two. Joseph Warren, the second son, was of a roving disposi- 



THE PRATT FAMILY 337 

lion, and on returning from a trip to California, sickened and 
tlied. The mother's clothes caught fire, which caused her 
death, The whole family were buried in Mt. Auburn cemetery. 



THE CHAMBERLAIN FAMILY 

Thomas Chamberlain came from England and settled in 
Woburn, Mass., in 1644, removed to Chelmsford, Mass. His 

son, Samuel, married Elizabeth- , and their son, Thomas, 

married Abigail Hildreth of Chelmsford. 

Simron Chamberlain, son of Thomas and Abigail (Hildreth) 
Chamberlain, was Royalston's first school-master. He was 
born in Littleton, Mass., March 28, 1723, and lived in Sutton 
and Douglas before coming to Royalston when aV)Out forty- 
three years old. He "embodied" with the Baptist church in 
1768. He married Sarah (Marsh) Wheeler of Mendon, Mass. 
Their children were: Simeon, born in Sutton March 6, 1762; 
John and Abigail, twins, born June 28, 1765. He died Nov. 
27, 1799, at the age of seventy-seven years. Simeon, the oldest 
son 6f Simeon and Sarah (Wheeler) Chamberlain, married 
Betty Gould of Douglas, Mass., and moved to Newport, N. 
H. They had five children. 

John Chamberlain, the youngest son of Simeon and Betty 
(Gould) Chamberlain, married Martha S. Richardson of 
Chester, N. H. They lived in Newport, N. H., and had four 
children: Bela N. Chamberlain, the oldest child, was born 
in Newport June 14, 1823. He married H. Jane Cram of Peter- 
boro, N. H., Aug. 15, 1849. 

Herbert Bela Chamberlain, son of Bela Nettleton and Jane 
(Cram ) Chamberlain, and great grandson of Simeon Chamber- 
lain, Royalston's first school-master, was born in Newport, 
N. H., Aug. 15, 1849. Simeon Chamberlain went from Royal- 
ston to Newport with a colony of Baptists. Herbert Bela 
went with his father to Brattleboro, Vt., when about five years 
old, and that place has been his home ever since. He was in 
the store of his father until his father's death in 1887, and then 
op?rated the store until about 1896 when he sold the business. 
He has been auditor of the town of Brattleboro twenty-eight 
years, and lister, or assessor, as it is called in Massachusetts, 
eighteen years. He is now retired from business. He married 



^^JS HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Nettie L. Phillips of Brattleboro. They have no children 
living now. 

Thomas Chamberlain, a lirother of Simeon, came from Sutton 
and settled in Royalston, his building being on the first hard 
land north of Long Pond, and between the Tully and saw mill 
brook, so called. His wife. Charity, and his son Thomas "em- 
bodied" with the Baptist church. In this family the town 
boarded the first person requiring public aid. The original 
settler and his wife died on that place and were buried in the 
grave yard nearby. Molly, daughter of Thomas, Jr., and 
Charity Chamberlain, born April 22, 1764, was one of the 
earliest recorded births in Royalston 



ALBION P. MOSMAN FAMILY 

A family connected with Royalston during the latter part 
of the last century was the Mosman family. 

Albion P. Mosman was born in Hope, Me., April 1, 1825, a 
son of AVilliam and Lucy (Safford) Mosman. His young man- 
hood was spent in farm work and as a sailor in the West Indian 
and South American trade. He also learned the ship carpenter's 
trade in Rockland, Me., then a large center of ship building. 
On August 1, 1848, he married Harriet Harrington of Rockland, 
Me. There were three children by this marriage all of whom are 
still living: Harriet A., married L. F. Smith of Winchendon, 
Mass., now of Watervliet, N. Y.; Charles A., is a dentist in 
Ogden, Utah; and Mary F., is the wife of Albert A. Fuller of 
North Appleton, Me., living near her father's birthplace. Their 
mother died in October, 1858. Mr. Mosman's second wife 
was Maria Coolidge of West Sterling, Mass. They were mar- 
ried April 1, 1860, and had two children: Edwin J. and 
Ellen M. 

In June, 1864, they purchased the farm in the north part 
of Royalston, now the summer home of Miss Edith Metcalf, 
which was their home until 1896, when they moved to Royalston 
Cent rewhere they resided until the fall of 1904. On March 
1, 1905, Mrs. Mosman died after a long illness at the home of her 
son in Waltham, and Mr. Mosman spent the remainder of his 
life with his children. He died Oct. 27, 1909, of apoplexy and 
was buried with Mrs. Mosman and their daughter, Ellen, in 
the familv lot at Rovalston Centre, 



THK ALBION P. MOSMAN FAMILY 3S9 

Edwin J. Mosnian, son of Albion P. and Maria (Coolidge) 
Mosman, was born at Rockland, Me., April 2, 1863, and came 
with his parents when only about a year old, to the farm in Roy- 
alston, which was his home for nearly twenty years and where 
he lead the life of the farmer boy of that time and attended the 
district school. In October, 1883, he went to Boston and at- 
tended the Bryant and Stratton Business college for a few months 
taking a position early in 1884 as bookkeeper in a factory at 
Jamaica Plain. Early in 1887 he became cashier with a large 
hat and cap jobbing house in Boston. This firm was burned 
out in the big Thanksgiving fire of 1889 and went out of business. 
Mr. Mosman obtained temporary employment with an elec- 
trical manufacturing company and in September, 1890, was 
employed as accountant by the Paine Furniture Co. with whom 
he remained nearly twenty-three years. He is now located 
at State street, Boston, as confidential clerk for a trustee, who 
has charge of a large number of trust estates and corporations. 
He was married May 29, 1888, to Georgie M. Willis of Jamaica 
Plain. They liave resided in Waltham since 1889. 



THE BLANDINGS 

Ehenezer Blavding was a native of Rehoboth, Mass., and 
came to Royalston about 1780 where he settled a place near 
"the city." He was an assessor in 1781, 1803 and 1804, and a 
selectman in 1800. He sold his place to Calvin Forbes and 
removed to Richmond, N. H., and from there to Richfield, 
N. Y., where he died at about ninety years of age. He had 
seventeen children, of whom at least ten are recorded as born 
in Royalston, the records stating that one was born '^April 
8, 1793, 3 o'clock p. m." and another, "April 7, 1791, at the ris- 
ing of the sun." 

Shuhel Blanding, a brother of Ebenezer, also came from 
Rehoboth sometime between 1782 and 1784, for a daughter 
is recorded as having been born to him in Rehoboth Nov. 4, 
1782, and a daughter is also recorded as having been born at 
Royalston July 19, 1784. He was a selectman of Royalston 
in 1793 and 1794. Seven children are recorded as having been 
born to him of whom five were born in Royalston. Lewis 
Horton, who was one of the Rehoboth .settlers in Royalston, 



340 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

was the first settler ^vest of the Tull}' north of the first Baptist 
meeting house, he died young and Shubel Bhxnding married 
his widow and annexed his farm to his own. He outlived three 
wives and died in Royalston March 11, 1832, at the age of 
eighty-one years. One of his daughters, Cynthia, born July 
19, 1784, married Al)el Jacobs May 1, 1806; Diadama, born 
May 18, 1788, married Silas Metcalf, Oct. 27, 1808; Polly, born 
July 30, 1779, married Seth Kendall of Athol, Dec. 11, 1804; 
Rosalana, born Nov. 4, 1782, man-ied Jeremiah Matthews 
Nov. 28, 1799; Sarah, born May 25, 1791, married Moses Rogers 
of Boston April 1(3, 1810. Shubel, his son, born Nov. 6, 1795, 
became a physician, settled in South Carolina and died shortly 
before the outbreak of the Rebellion, Ijeing at the time of his 
death, a citizen of Charleston. 



THE GREELEY FAMILY 

Nathaniel Greeley, (a descendant of Andrew Grele, who 
settled in this country about 1640 at Salisbury, Mass.), was 
born in Weston, Vt., Dec. 13, 1809, and settled in Royalston 
about 1837, his residence and mill being at the foot of Jacob's 
Hill. He manufactured chair stock and operated a saw mill. 
He married Delania Walker of Royalston, and died March 
31, 1871. 

His children were: Sarah, born May 17, 1838, who was 
not married and died in 1913 at Worcester; Jonas E., born 
June 12, 1841; Abel, who died in infancy was born April 18, 
1843; Emily, born August 21, 1844, married Addison Taylor 
of Templeton and still survives him living at East Templeton. 

Jonas E. Greeley enlisted in 21st Regiment Massachusetts 
Volunteers and served nearly two years, being discharged for 
disability. He re-enlisted in 1863 in 57th regiment Massachu- 
setts Volunteers and was Sergeant in E company. He resides 
in Worcester and is surgeon of Post 10, G. A. R. He had two 
sons: Charles E. Greeley, born Aug. 29, 1869, who married 
Elizabeth Watson in 1904 and resides at Revere, Mass. He 
is advertising agent for the Dwinell Wright Co. of Boston. 
Archer K. Greeley, the other son, was l)orn Feb. 21, 1876, 
married Bessie W. Waters of Millbury, Mass., and resides at 
Oxford, Mass. He i§ an attorney at law with offices in Web- 



THE GEORGE D. BOLTON FAMILY 341 

ster, Mass., and Oxford. He received the degree of L. L. M. at 
University of Maine in 1910, having been admitted to the Mas- 
sachusetts bar in 1900. He has a daughter, Muriel Waters 
Greeley, born Aug. 14, 1898. 



THE GEORGE D. BOLTON FAMILY 

George Dana Bolton, son of William E. and Sibyl (Keezer) 
Bolton was born in Enosburg, Vt., May 26, 1847. His father 
and mother were both natives of Massachusetts, the former 
being born in Groton and the latter in Salem. He came to 
Massachusetts when twenty-five years of age, and was for a 
number of years in the lumber business with his brother-in-law 
C. A. Stimson, their mill lieing the saw mill at Doane's Falls. 
About 1875 he purchased the farm on the Athol road, where 
he now resides, formerly known as the Hubl)ard place. He 
married Jennie Frances Stimson of Warwick, Mass., Oct. 26, 
1873. He is one of the Cemetery Commissioners, agent of the 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Cattle In- 
spector and Inspector of dressed meat. The children of George 
Dana and Jennie (Stimson) Bolton are: Leota M., Le welly n 
Sumner and Jennie Antoinette. Leota M. Bolton, oldest daugh- 
ter, was born in Royalston 1876. She attended Brimfield 
academy; has l)een supervisor of music in the public schools 
of Royalston for eleven years, and is also teacher of piano and 
sewing in the schools. She married Perley F. Richards Sept. 
15, 1897, who was Ijorn in Conville, Me., in 1875. They have 
one son, Farrell Bolton Richards, ])orn Dec. 1, 1901. 

LeweUyn Sumner Bolton, son of George D. and Jennie 
(Stimson) Bolton, was born in Royalston Feb. 1, 1879. He 
entered the employ of the S. S. Pierce Co. of Boston, when 
eighteen years of age and is now assistant manager of their 
Copley Square store. He is also deeply interested in music. 
In November, 1900, he married Lena J. Wright of Boston, 
who was a graduate of the Lowell School of Practical Design, 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They now reside at 
Allston, Mass., and have three children: Llewellyn Sumner, Jr., 
Irene Frances and Elmer. 

Jennie Antoinette Bolton was born Dec. 7, 1882, She studied 
music in Boston at the New England conservatory of music 



j^2 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

four years, and with Prof. Hermann Heinrich. She married 
Herbert Richards, who was born in Conville, Me., in 1881. 
He is a machinist in the employ of L. S. Starrett Co., and they 
reside in Athol. 



THE BEMIS FAMILY 

About 1780 John and Abigail Bemis with their children 
removed from Sudbury, Mass., to Winchendon. The son Jonas, 
had served in the Revolution previous to this removal. He 
married Catherine Tower of Sudbury and subsequently re- 
moved from Winchendon to Royalston, where he died June 
28, 1831, at the age of seventy-four years. 

Jonas Bemis, son of Jonas and Catherine (Tower) Bemis, 
was born in Winchendon Aug. 11, 1788. He married May 13, 

1813, Mercy Burgess, daughter of Ebenezer Burgess of Ashburn- 
ham. He removed to Royalston where he died June 24, 1824. 
His widow married William Whitney of Ashburnham, May 
18, 1830. Jonas Bemis, son of John Bemis, married Mercy 
Piper, and died in Royalston. 

Luke Bemis, son of Jason and Mercy (Piper) Bemis, was 
born in Winchendon May 9, 1788. He married Dec. 25, 1813, 
at Rindge, N. H., Susan Steele, daughter of Samuel Steele. 
Their children were: Sarah Elvira, born in Royalston Sept. 23, 

1814, married Eri Shepardson Jan. 5, 1843, and died April 5, 
1864; Christine, born in Bull Hill, N. Y., March 5, 1817, mar- 
ried William Peckham of Petersham, Mass., and died in 1860; 
William S., born in Brutus, N. Y., June 10, 1819, married Julia 
Haskins of Prescott, Mass., June 14, 1845; Susan Amanda, 
born in Brutus, N. Y., June 11, 1822, died Aug. 5, 1825; Samuel 
Atwood, born in Royalston Dec. 22, 1824; Susan Amanda (2), 
born in Warwick April 12, 1827, a sketch of her appears in 
another chapter; Mary Berintha, born in Royalston, Sept. 7, 
1829, married Quincy Shepardson of Royalston; Luke Emil, 
born in Royalston March 29, 1832; Levi F., born in Royalston 
July 27, 1834, died Oct. 2, 1854; George Herbert, born in Royal- 
ston May 28, 1837, died Aug. 23, 1851. 

Liike Emil Bemis, son of Luke and Susan (Steele) Bemis 
was born in Royalston March 29 , 1832. He was an experienced 
farmer and had given agriculture and bee-keeping much study 



THE BEMIS FAMILY S43 

and thought and was also actively interested in the welfare of 
his town having served it as a member of the school committee. 
He was an active member of the Baptist church of West Royal- 
ston, and superintendent of its Sunday school, and was also 
well-known as a musician. He married Caroline, daughter of 
Jonathan and Nancy Shepardson, March 22, 1857. He died 
July 25, 1886, and Mrs. Bemis Jan. 30, 1906. Their children 
were: Emil H., born July 14, 1858, in Petersham; Carrie M., 
born Feb. 1, 1860, and died Nov. 12, 1862; George A., born 
May 22, 1862; and Mary Ella, born Sept. 14, 1877. 

Emil H. Bemis came with his parents to West Royalston 
in 1867, and his school education was obtained in West Royal- 
ston and Athol. He attended the New England conservatory 
of music in Boston, was located in Augusta, Ga., for two years 
as organist and teacher of music, and went to Holyoke, Mass., 
April, 1887, which has since been his home and where he has 
been teacher of music and organist of the Second Baptist church 
to the present time. In May, 1888, he married Miss Ada C. 
Bartlett, daughter of Rev. E. M.Bartlett, a well-known Baptist 
minister. They have two sons: Carleton H., born Aug. 21, 1891, 
and Edwin W., born in 1897. George A. Bemis married Mary 
Leona Holden of Athol, Oct. 3, 1883. He is employed in 
the L. S. Starrett shops and came to Athol to reside in 1906. 
He is a well-known musician and singer. They have an adopted 
daughter born Aug. 15, 1907. 

Samuel Atwood Bemis, was born in Royalston, Dec. 22, 
1824. When a young man he Uved for several years in Park- 
man, Me., where he was engaged in the blacksmith business. 
He married Huldah Green Stevens of Guilford, Me., March 
15, 1848. Later he removed to Petersham, Mass., where he 
carried on the blacksmith and teaming business for several 
years, and in 1860 moved to Athol where he continued the same 
business. He sold his teaming business after the war to Edmund 
Moore. He was for a number of years in company with 
W. H. Frost in the stove, tinware and junk business under the 
firm name of Frost and Bemis, and during the latter part of his 
life lived on a farm near the Bear's Den road in Athol. He 
died in Athol, May 29, 1905. 

Roger William Bemis, only child of Samuel Atwood and 
Huldah (Stevens) Bemis, was born in Parkman, Me., July 
13, 1851. He was for twelve years clerk at the Athol center 



J^^ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

post-office and for a number of years eno;aged in the printing 
business and has for the hist twelve or fifteen years been employ- 
ed in the Highland bakery at Athol center. He married Nellie 
M. Coller, daughter of L. S. Coller of Athol. They had three 
children, Charles Bertram, Leonard Atwood and Muriel L. 



THE TANDY FAMILY 

Rev. Lorenzo Tandy was a Baptist minister who became 
connected with Royalston history in 1861, when he became 
pastor of the West Royalston Baptist church which he served 
as pastor for five years until 1886, when he retired from the 
ministry and purchas-d the David Cook place which was his 
home the remainder of his life. He was born in Goshen, N. 
H., June 28, 1818. Previous to coming to Royalston he held 
pastorates in Hancock and Ackworth, N. H., Tewksbury, 
North Middleboro and Coldbrook, Mass., and other places. 
He married Lucy Stowell of Lempster, N. H., who was born 
Aug. 28, 1820. They had eight children: Nathan, born in 
Hancock, N. H., Feb. 6, 1845; Charles F., born in Hancock, 
July 11, 1846; Lucy Jane, born in Ackworth, N. H., Sept. 25, 
1847; Ellen L., born in Tewksbury, Mass., May 3, 1850; William 
W., born in North Middleboro, Mass., June 19, 1852; Evelyn, 
born in North Middleboro, Jan. 29, 1854; Eddy C, born in 
Coldbrook, Mass., Oct. 20, 1856; May, born in Royalston, June 
29, 1861. Rev. Lorenzo Tandy died Dec. 22, 1898. and 
Mrs. Lucy Tandy Jan. 8, 1907. 

Nathan S. Tandy enlisted in Co. D, 36th Massachusetts 
infantry, in the Civil war when seventeen years old. He was 
employed at the Athol depot for about two years and had 
charge of the station at Hoosac Tunnel about twenty years. 
He went to Newport, N. H., where he was in the express busi- 
ness for many years. He died Aug. 17, 1916 at Newport, N. H. 

Charles F. Tandy came to Royalston when about fourteen 
years of age. He married Maria Davis, daughter of Joseph 
Davis of Royalston, Jan. 19, 1866. She died Nov. 22, 1870, 
soon after which Mr. Tandy moved to Athol which has ever 
since been his home. He married, second, Miss Priscilla Fay, 
daughter of Elder Lysander Fay of Athol. He worked for 
many years in the grocery store of S. E. Fay. He is a promi- 
nent meml^er of the Baptist church of which he has been one 



THE TANDY FAMILY 345 

of the deacons for many years. Thej' have three children, 
Eugene, Wilbert and Ruth. 

Lucy Jane Tandy died unmarried March 3, 1893. Ellen 
L. Tandy married Luke B. Shepardson of Royalston. 

William W. Tandy was educated in the public schools of 
Montague and Royalston, coming to Royalston with his parents 
when quite young, and this town was his home until nineteen 
years of age, when he began to work for the Vermont and Mas- 
sachusetts Railroad company at Hoosac Tunnel station, where 
he learned the business of station master's helper, telegrapher 
and baggage master. He was transferred to the Montague 
station about a year later, where he had charge of the station 
for about a year and a half when he was promoted to the posi- 
tion of station agent at Gardner, Mass., one of the most impor- 
tant junction stations on the Fitchburg railroad. He remained 
in this position for over eight years, when his health failed and 
he was obliged to take a rest and spent a year in the South. 
After his return he accepted the position of bookkeeper for 
Conant and Bush of Gardner, and later was confidential clerk 
in the office of Philander Derby & Co., of the same town. He 
was for several years auditor of the Central Oil and Gas Co., of 
Florence, Mass., and since 1896 has been the treasurer of the 
Central (3il and Gas Stove company of Gardner. He was 
married June 19, 1877, to Esther Finette Chapin, daughter of 
Calvin and Susan (Clark) Chapin of Royalston. They have had 
seven children. He has not held many public offices nor does 
he belong to any fraternal organization. He is a member of 
the First Congregational church of Gardner. 

Evelyn B. Tandy married William H. Bullard, Aug. 25, 
1880, and their home is in Holyoke, Mass. 

Eddy C- Tandy died when twenty years of age. May 
Tandy was a school teacher in At hoi and Clinton for a number 
of years. She married William T. Parsons of Holden, Feb. 
22, 1892 and died in Worcester, Mar. 16, 1913. 



THE BOSWORTH FAMILY 

Jonathan Bosworih, the ancestor of all the Bosvvorths of Roy- 
alston, came from Lunenburg, Ma.ss., and settled in the north- 
west part of the town on the place later owned by Marshall 



346 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Herrick. He was bom in 1713 and died in 1801 ai the age of 
eighty-eight 5'e;ars. He was succeeded by his son, Ichahod, 
wdio married Olive Millar. 

Jonathan Bosworth, Jr., came from Lunenburg with his 
father and settled on the west bank of Priest's Brook just south 
of the Winchendon road. He married IMar> Holt, said to have 
been the first white child born in the town of Winchendon, 
Nov. 15, 1753. He is the Jonathan who had the adventure 
with wolves described in the chapter on wild animals. They 
had fourteen children, born between 1773 and 1799. 

Joseph Bosworth, son of Jonathan and Mary (Holt) Bos- 
worth, born Jan. 9, 1792, married Abigail Saunders Bemis, 
daughter of Jason Bemis, April 13, 1819. They had ten child- 
ren : Joseph Nelson, born M.iy 11, 1820; Amos Bemis, born July 
24, 1821, married Eliza D. Moore May 31, 1843, He served in 
the Civil War in Co. E, 53rd Mass. Regt. Was killed on a 
circular saw at Leonard Moore's saw mill several years after 
the war. His son, Joseph W. Bosworth, also served in the 
war in the same company and regiment with his father, and 
died soon after getting home from the war. Chauncey, born 
Nov. 6, 1822, married Augusta L. Richard of Rindge, N. H., 
Sept. 24, 1848, died June 23, 1895. Silas, born May 6, 1824, 
died in New Salem. Joel, born Feb. 16, 1826, died Jan. 7,. 
1849. George Washington, born Nov. 28, 1827. Hosea Au- 
gustus,, born Dec. 22, 1828, served in the Civil War in the 25th 
Mass. Regt., was mortally wounded in the battle of Cold Har- 
bor, and died July 10, 1864. Benjamin Hammond, born Nov. 
29, 1832, died Aug. 31, 1887. Abigail Elvira, born June 9, 
1834. Levi, born Feb. 13, 1837, served in the Civil War in the 
27th Mass. Regt., married Maria Lucy Wood, and now resides 
in Chester, Vt. 

Chilson Boszuorth, son of Jonathan and Mary (Holt) Bos- 
worth, born May 28, 1787, married Chloe Sibley in December, 
1809. They had eleven children. Lucy, born April 28, 1810, 
William S., born April 12, 1812, died Feb. 23, 1820. Nancy, 
born June 19, 1814, married George W. Rumrill Aug. 11, 1845. 
Chloe, born Oct. 30, 1818, died Feb. 11, 1820. Abigail, born 
Sept. 22, 1816, died Feb. 16, 1820. Sabra, born July 30, 1821. 
Chilson, born Oct. 14, 1825. Joel Sibley, born Oct. 17, 1827. 
William, born Oct. 19, 1829. Caroline, born Sept. 17, 1832. 
Susannah, born May 31. 1835. 



THE BOSWORTH FAMILY 5/7 

r/'/7.w« i5(?^7tw-///,/r. married Sarah Prescott, and was the 
father of Sidney G. Bosworth, the author of the hymn sung at 
Royalston's 150th Anniversary. 



THE DOANE FAMILY 

Joshua Doane, from Cape Co^, settled on the place north of 
the Dexter place. He had a family of eleven children, among 
whom were Amos Doane and a daughter Adaline, who married 
Joel O. Flagg of Hubbardston May 22, 1843. 

Amos Doane, oldest son of Joshua and Ruth Doane, was 
born in Royalston April 7, 1803. He was a well known charac- 
ter in Royalston and surrounding towns and his name is perpet- 
uated in "Doane's Falls." He owned the land around the falls 
and built a large mill in close proximity, but which was never 
utilized to any great extent fiir manufacturing purposes. It 
stood for many years an interesting and unique landmark, and 
finally was torn down a piece at a time. He was a man of 
great height, being more than six feet tall, and was engaged in 
many law suits. He was a familiar figure in Athol, where he 
commenced the erection of a large building which 
was never completed and which was known for a long time as 
*' Doane's Castle," Many interesting anecdotes are related of 
him. He married Luceba Pennyman Sept. 27, 1836, and they 
had two children Andrew and Byron. Andrew died in in- 
fancy. 

Byron Doane was born Oct. 21, 1837. He was a veteran of 
the Civil War, enlibting in Co. I, 25tli Mass. Infantry, being 
mustered in vSept. 28, 1861, and discharged July 13, 1865. He 
lived on the Athol road near Doane's Falls. He married Jane 
Eaton of Athol, July 2, 1867. They had two children, Frank 
B., born June 8, 1868, and Myrtie M., born Nov. 19, 1872. 

Frank B. Doane married Dellie P. Foster, daughter of David 
P. Foster of Royalston, Feb. 15, 1893. They have resided in 
Athol for about nineteen years and have five children, Ruth A., 
Marguerite V., Helen K., Gladys M. and Reginald F. 

Myrtie M. married William E. Day of Royalston April 6, 
1892. They lived in Athol, where Mrs. Day died in 1898. 
They had three children. 



CHAPTER XIII 
ROYALSTON'S WRITERS OF POETRY 

It is interesting at times to weave into the stern realities 
and tragedies of life something of the gentler influences of hu- 
manity and the poetry of life, and to enliven the old family his- 
tories and the religious and military experiences of the people 
with what the sons and daughters of Royalston, both native and 
adopted, have produced in the realm of poetry. 

While Royalston's writers of poetry do not include a Long- 
fellow, a Whittier or a Lowell, there are those whose verses 
have gained not only a local but a national and even world wide 
reputation. There is one whose verses have carried comfort 
and hope to thousands of aching hearts wherever the English 
language is read, and the name of Nancy Priest, the factory 
girl, is revered and loved in the homes of many lands. 

The "Epic Poem on the War of the Rebellion," by Dr. 
Frank W. Adams, is one of the most eloquent and vivid des- 
criptions of the scenes and events of the Civil War that has ever 
been written, and will send a thrill of patriotism coursing 
through every loyal heart. We regret the entire poem can not 
be used in this work, but the parts that we shall quote will 
show the character of the poem. 

The poems of Albert Bryant are said to be the best that ever 
emanated from an Amherst College graduate, while the poem 
of Amanda Beniis Smith on "Johnstown in the Conemaugh 
Flood," was published and sold in large quantities in Pennsyl- 
vania and adjoining states. 

We believe it eminently fitting and appropriate to recall and 
collect in the town history some oi these gems of thought pro- 
duced by the sons and daughters of Royalston. 

It was Longfellow that once asked a friend to read : 

Not from the grand old Masters, 
Not from the bards sublime, 
Whose distant footsteps echo 
Through the corridors of time ; 

Read from some humbler poet, 



royalston's poetry 349 

Whose songs gush from his heart, 

As showers from the clouds of Summer, 

Or tears from the eyelids start. 



DR, FRANK W. ADAMS 

The "Epic Poem on the War of the Great Rebellion" by 
Dr. Frank W. Adams is without doubt the most remarkable 
production in the realm of poetry and history combined that 
has ever been produced by a resident of Royalston. It was 
first given as a Memorial Day address before the Grand 
Army Veterans and citizens of Royalston in 1880. 
and since then has been given not only as a Memorial Day 
Oration, but in various lecture and entertainment courses 
throughout the state, where it has been received with great 
enthusiasm not only by the old soldiers, but by all classes, 
holding the close attention of the old and the young alike. 

Professor Henry P. Wright of Yale University in a private 
letter says: "The poem was one of the most eloquent, vivid and 
touching descriptions of the late war that has ever been 
written. It is impossible for any one to listen to it without 
being intensely interested and deeply moved. I have never 
listened to an address that seemed to me more appropriate 
for a gathering of veteran soldiers and their friends." The 
press notices wherever it has been delivered are enthusias- 
tic in its praise. The poem begins with a description of 
Charleston harbor and the forts, the spirit and exultation of 
the Touthern people, the firing upon Sumter, and the thrill of 
patriotism which from that moment ran through the North. 
The sacrifices, patriotism, deeds of heroism and valor of the 
soldiers were portrayed in graphic and beautiful words, as 
well as woman's work in the war - — her deeds of self-sacrifice 
and devotion. 

The poem commences as follows : 

Two rivers, warmed by southern sands and sun> 
Hedged in with flowers as southern rivers run, 
With orange odors spiced and fringed with palms, 
Held a fair city in their confluent arms. 
The sea was near and down the broadening bay 



j^Q HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Far to the left Fort Moultrie frowning lay, 

While nearer, dreaded by her country's foes, 

The massive walls of Castle Pinckney rose. 

Fort Johnson on the right loomed fierce and grim. 

And farther on, against the ocean's rim, 

The Works on Cumming's Point reposed in state 

Guarding the Harbor's open outer gate. 

Nor were these all, for here and there between 

Were bastions and redoubts of savage mien. 

All grandly rested in their conscious power, 

Waiting the master's word — the day — the hour! 

A string of iron beads, a ring of stone, 

And in the center Sumter stood alone! 

A scene of peace! for war's hoaree, clarion notes 

Had never rung from out those iron throats. 

On whose fair bosom peerless Sumter lay, 

Tlashed her sweet shores with joy at flight of night 

And nodded to the mom her crests of white. 

The city sleeps! when, hark! a sullen roar 

Comes booming up the bay from Moultrie's shore, 

And through the air a whizzing, screeching shell 

Tore its mad way and into Sumter fell. 

It comes again! and now on every side, 

All round the bay, embrasures open wide, 

And, scorning old-time creeds and righteous law, 

Let slip with horrid din the dogs of war! 

In rapid rounds that shook the shrinking land 

Thundered the heavy guns on every hand. 

They poured forth fire and smoke and shot and shell 

Aimed at one common center — aimed too well — 

Until the volleys, rolled from either shore. 

Fused into one continuous, thunderous roar. 

In splendid curves the red hot bolts were thrown, 

They came from many points, they met in one. 

Till Sumter seemed, amid the warfare dire. 

The center of a ring of living fire! 

The spread of the tidings that war had begun was described : 

The booming of the guns that day 
Around that lovely southern bay 



"royai^ston's poetry 351 

Rolled in swift echoes far away 

O'er river, field and lake; 
They leaped the mountains one by one, 
And, vying with the morning sun, 
They smote the Dome at Washington, 

And bade the land awake! 

Still on the pealing salvos flew. 
O'er staid New England wilder grew, 
And, gathering volume thundered through 

The grand old woods of Maine. 
They swept the Western plains like fire. 
They scaled the mountains, spire on spire, 
And shook with detonations dire 

The old Pacific main. 

The land did wake! with vigor meet 

The nation sprang upon its feet, 

And none, save those in winding sheet, 

But heard that dread appeal. 
From East to West rose gallant men 
Who swords did make of plowshares then, 
Or laid aside the mightier pen 

To swing the sterner steel! 

A grand tribute to the Loyalty of the Blacks : 

And there was yet another loyal race 

Who dared beside us take their humble place; 

A race whose faces, 'neath the burning rays 

Of Africa's sun through unrecorded days, 

Had lost the hue no art could give them back 

And slowly, surely ripened into black; 

A race in bondage; doomed to drudge and moil. 

Their only lore the alphabet of toil; 

Whose ties of blood were nothing but a name. 

Whose heritage was servitude and shame. 

Who had no hope of gyves and shackles riven, 

And dreamed of freedom as they dreamed of Heaven! 

How swift they rose, and hastened to be free 

When war presaged their "Year of Jubilee!" 

They heard from far the mighty, rushing sound! 



J^2 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON' 

They cleared the old plantation at a bound; 

They braved the bloodhounds' fangs, the bayous' damps: 

They fringed our armies and they thronged our camps; 

They served as guides; as spies they brought reports; 

They dug our trenches and they built our forts; 

They sheltered refugees, and, when by law 

They ceased to be the ''Contraband of War," 

They took the musket as a patriot should, 

And sealed their love of freedom with their blood? 

The tribute to Lincoln : 

And, over all, that grand and patient one 

Who held the battered helm at Washington, 

Whose brain was big with projects for his race, 

Whose heart was big with royal tenderness. 

Whose rod, extended o'er the Southern tide, 

Rolled back the angry flood on either side 

And through the channelled waters, safe and dry 

Led forth four million slaves to liberty! 

The grandest picture on the Century's face! 

The glorious Moses of a ransomed race! 

We need not speak his name whose gracious pen 

Proclaimed the eternal brotherhood of men! 

For history hath made his fame her own. 

And Lincoln's name will outlive Ijrass and stone! 

Panegyric on woman's work in the war: 

O mother, whether here or gone home to your rest, 

You remember your love for the babe on your breast. 

Your joy in his boyhood, your pride in his youth. 

Your effort to rear him for God and the truth. 

You remember your wail when you heard the first gun 

That boomed in the South, for you thought of your son; 

Your shiver of fear when he talked of the war. 

And of rebels defying the national law; 

Your cry of despair when, bending down low. 

His lips touched your forehead and he said he must go. 

We can see but in part the dark path that you trod, 

The whole is known only to you and to God; 

But you know how you rallied and conciuered your fears, 



royalston's poetry 353 

How you kept down the sigh, how you kept hack the tears, 

And how, though your heart was filled full to the brim, 

You tried to look cheery and brave before him; 

How you busily wrought all that love could suggest 

'Till your boy was made ready to march with the rest. 

And then, that last day! when down the long street 

The regiment marched to the drum's measured beat, 

And the bayonets flashed back the bright rays of the sun 

In a rhythm of light, as they swayed and they swung. 

You remember just then how the band through the town 

Rolled that glorious old chorus — the tune of "John Brown," 

And a thousand strong voices — and your boy's was one, — 

Sang "Glory Hallelujah! for God is marching on!" 

'Twas a scene that would thrill e'en the heart of the dead! 

You could bear it no longer, you turned and you fled, 

And at home on your knees, Heaven's aid to employ. 

You begged God to spare him and bring back your boy! 

Yes, and wives sent their husbands, and sisters, their brothers 

And daughters their fathers and sweethearts their lovers. 

O comrades, the army that then marched away 

Was only one army that helped win the day. 

There were other grand armies that struggled and strove; 

An army wrote letters of courage and love; 

An army sent daily good things without stint; 

An army of fingers were picking the lint; 

An army of angels wnth soft touch and tread 

Chased many a dark cloud from the hospital bed; 

And all through the North, between the great seas, 

Was an army of women — upon their knees! 

O, not 'till that day when we know as we're known 

And the great books are opened l)efore the white throne. 

Will we know what we owe mother, sweetheart and wife 

For the part that they bore in that terrible strife. 

Apostrophe to the Flag: 

O, Banner beautiful! O, Flag we prize! 
Not earthborn thou! God wove thee in the skies! 
The westering sun, athwart the drifting white, 
Flashed in red waves its rosy bars of light 
Until they touched with stripes of crimson hue 



3^)4 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Heaven's starry, boundless, soundless sea of blue. 
There wert thou first unfurled for mortal eyes, 
And Freedom, for her emblem, robbed the skies! 
And, dear old Banner, in the years to come 
From other wars should kind hands bear thee home; 
Should thy dear folds, above our heads, once more 
Be stained with powder, grime and patriots' gore. 
Should deadly bullet and the cruel shell 
Rend the fair colors that we love so well. 
Should other battles on thy stripes be traced. 
Stripes, fringed and faded, tattered and defaced, 
We'll love thee better for each stain and tear, 
And give thee greeting with our foreheads bare! 
God bless the Flag that freemen died to save! 
God rest the hearts that died that it might wave! 
On the red battlefield, where'er they fell, 
In hospital, in prison ward and cell, 
At home, where loving hearts their vigils keep, 
They closed their dear brave eyes and — went to slec'p! 
And when the Springtime comes, with tender tread 
We strew the flowers of May above the dead. 
They have passed on! and, though by us unseen, 
There's but a gauzy veil that hangs between; 
And leaving there our offering, sweet with dew, 
Methinks the breath of flowers must filter through! 
Sweet be their sleep! and when, our warfare done, 
We hear beyond the stream our sunset gun. 
When the Great Captain calls the heavenly roll, 
And speaks the name of each immortal soul. 
Through Heaven's arches, ringing glad and clear, 
Let angels catch our joyous answer, '' HereV 



NANCY PRIEST 

The most gifted daughter of Royalston, in the realm of 
poetry is Nancy Priest, whose poem entitled "Over the River" 
has carried the author's name wherever the English language is 
read. She was born in the easterly part of Royalston Dec. 7, 
1836. Her full maiden name was Nancy Amelia Woodbury 
Priest. Her father, Francis Dana Priest, was a native of 




NANCY PRIEST 



royalston's poetry jjj 

Gardner, Mass., and her mother, Sophia B. Priest, was the 
daughter of Col. Jacob Woodbury, a prominent man in 
Winchendon, and famous in his day as a Revolutionary 
veteran, and for his exploits in pursuing and slaying a wolf. 
The family had become residents of Royalston but a few 
months before the birth of their gifted daughter, and after a 
few years' residence in Royalston returned to Winchendon* 
their former home, which was thereafter their home, with the 
exception of three or four years in Hinsdale, N. H., between 
1851 and 1855. 

Nancy never attended school after leaving Winchendon 
when in her fifteenth year, with the exception of a term or 
two as a pupil of Professor Ward at Powers Institute in 
Bernardston in 1858, and she was never from home anv 
length of time until married in 1865. 

At a very early age she showed signs of an uncommon 
mind that betokened future greatness. She learned all the 
letters of the alphabet, great and small, says her mother, 
before she was two years old, and it is stated of her, when 
about two years old, that nothing ever pleased her like hearing 
reading and singing. While still in childhood she used to 
write poetry on her slate, and rub it out quickly if it was likely 
to be read. Her schoolmates soon found out her fondness 
for making rhymes, and used to coax her to make poetry for 
them. Her earliest poem in the printed collection is said to 
have been written at the age of fourteen, and is entitled ''Lines 
Written to Her Schoolmates," and relates to her removal from 
Winchendon to Hinsdale. It was while living in Hinsdale 
that her famous poem "Over the River" was written. 

At the time she was living at home and working in a 
paper mill. One day at the noon hour while the other employees 
were gone to dinner, she remained, as usual, because her home 
was at some distance. As she sat on a sack of rags looking 
across the Asheulot River, which flows through the village, 
the impulse in her breast moved her to write. Rev. E. S. Best, 
formerly a pastor of the Methodist Church in Winchendon, 
gives the origin of the poem in an article prepared for a magazine 
as follows: "Over the misty current her dark eyes gleam 
with a mysterious brilliancy. She picks up a piece of paper, 
and with her pencil writes rapidly for a few minutes: but the 
bell rings; the machinery begins to clatter; she thrusts the 



356 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

paper into her pocket, and resumes her work. On that crumpled 
paper is written the first sketch of a poem which has gained 
a well-deserved renown." The author of the poem, in a letter 
to the brother of a musical composer who desired to set it to 
music, gave the following account of its origin: "The little 
poem to which he purposes to give musical expression was 
written originally on a sheet of brown wrapping paper, in 
the hour's nooning at the mill, and then carried home, thrown 
in with other loose papers, and entirely forgotten until I came 
across it by accident again while looking for something else, 
more than a year after." 

The poem first appeared in the Springfield Reyuhlican of 
August 22, 1857, when she was in her twenty-second year, 
and under the name of "Lizzie Lincoln," which was the nom- 
dc- plume under which she wrote many of her poems. It was 
soon set to music by six or eight different composers, and re- 
garding the poem one writer has said, "One cannot conceive 
that anything can make it less popular a hundred years hence 
than it is to-day. Though it cannot compare with Gray's 
'Elegy' in finished elegance of expression, yet it has a music, 
a rhythm, a pathos which is unsurpassed. Surely one has not 
lived in vain to whom it has been given to speak words of solace, 
comfort and hope to millions of aching hearts in measures which 
cling to the memory and infuse the soul with a heavenly calm. 

Among her other poems, one of the most popular is the one 
entitled "Heaven," which has been much admired, and has 
found its place in one or more collections of the choicest poetry 
in the English language. We believe it worthy of a place in 
the history of her native town. 

HEAVEN 

Beyond these chilling winds and gloomy skies, 

Beyond Death's cloudy portal, 
There is a land where beauty never dies 

And love becomes immortal. 

A land whose light is never dimmed by shade. 

Whose fields are ever vernal. 
Where nothing beautiful can ever fade, 

But blooms for aye eternal. 



royalston's poktry 357 

We may not know how sweet its balmy air, 

How bright and fair its flowers; 
We may not hear the songs that echo there 

Through those enchanted bowers. 

The city's shining towers we may not see 

With our dim, earthly vision; 
For Death, the silent warder, keeps the key 

That opes those gates elysian. 

But sometimes, where adown the western sky 

The fiery sunset lingers, 
Its golden gates swing inward noiselessly, 

Unlocked by silent fingers. 

And while they stand a moment half ajar, 

Gleams from the inner glory. 
Stream lightly through the azure vault afar, 

And hilf reveil the story. 

land unknown! O land of love divine ! 

Father all wise, eternal, 
Guide, guide these wandering way-worn feet of mine 

Unto those pastures vernal. 

In 1882 a volume of more than one hundred of the poems 
of Nancy Priest was published, many of which bear the mark 
of genius, and which are arranged under the divisions of'Reli- 
gious", "Love and Friendship," "Elegiac Poems," "Patriotic 
Poems," "Poems of Nature" and "Miscellaneous Poems." 
In every division are poems of more than ordinary merit and 
beauty of expression. 

It is said that the songs of patriotism are alone sufficient 
to recommend the whole volume to those who fought our 
country's battles, and all those who rejoiced in the triumph of 
freedom. Of the poem entitled "War to the Knife, and the 
Knife to the Hilt" it has been said that "it is an heroic and 
awful strain, as terrible as the fiercest lines in the "Marseil- 
laise Hymn," and that it cannot be read without a shudder. 
This was written in the darkest hours of our Civil War, when 
the very life of the nation was in peril. 

She was peculiarly sensitive to the charms of Nature, which 
is strikingly illustrated in her poem. 



,^5>y HISTORY OF ROYAI^STON 

INVOCATION 

I'm tired of strife; I'm sick of heartless living; 

Fain would I from the world's rude jostling fiee. 
No longer toward youth's high ideal striving, 

Thy child, mother Nature! turns to thee. 

For thou can'st comfort when the heart is sorest; 

Oh, let me take thy hand and walk with thee, 
And watch thee sowing acorns in the forest, 

Or scattering spring's blue violets o'er the lea. 

Let me sit with thee 'neath the maples' shadows, 
Or watch upon the hills to see thee pass; 

Teach me to trace thy footsteps in the meadows 
By the bright cowslips dotting all the grass. 

Speak to me in the murmur of the river; 

Sing to me with thy thousand voices sweet ; 
Hold my tired head, and let me sit forever 

Drinking in rest and patience at thy feet. 

So shall I rise above earth's selfish sorrow; 

So shall I win new strength to bear life's pain; 
And waiting hopefully for heaven to-morrow. 

Take up my burden, and press on again. 

She was married Dec. 22, 1865, to Lieutenant Arrington 
Clay Wakefield, who had made an honorable record in the 
War of the RebelHon. She died Sept. 21, 1870, after less than 
five years of married life, having borne three children, two of 
whom with her husband survived her. 

The "Congregationalist" in an article published a few 
weeks after her death, referring to her poem "Over the River," 
said: "It may be doubted whether a single week has trans- 
pired in the last ten years when these verses might not have 
been picked up from one or more of our American newspapers 
in their issue of that week. We know, indeed, of no bit of 
poetry of late, from any pen, that has struck the popular mind 
so exactlv." 



royalston's poetry 359 

ALBERT BRYANT 

Albert Bryant was born in Troy, N. H., Jan. 30, 1838. 
He was the son of Lucien and Charlotte Peirce Bryant. 
When a young child his parents moved to Royalston, the 
native town of his mother. He was fitted for college at Kim- 
ball Union (Meriden, N. H.) and Phillips Andover academies, 
graduating from Amherst College in 1862. He was an honor 
scholar at Amherst, excelling in mental philosophy and the 
studies of senior year. His classmate, Rev. George C. 
Phipps, writes as follows: "His commencement poem was 
entitled 'The Coming Republic,' and two of its glowing lines 
might well stand for his own epitaph. 

" 'That no life however silent in the grand result is lost. 
When the gain for human progress vindicates its bloody 
cost.'" 

Another tril)ute to his poems is from Marquis F. Dickinson, 
the well-known Boston lawyer, a native of Amherst, and 
classmate of Bryant's, who writes as follows: 

"In my opinion Bryant's poems are the best that ever 
emanated from an Amherst graduate. He had too much on 
hand for the free cultivation of his gift, but I am inclined 
to believe that if he had enjoyed sufficient leisure he might 
have left behind a great name. I remember the peculiar 
interest which attached to the title of his address when he grad- 
uated from the Andover Theological Seminary 'Charity Begins 
Abroad,^ a plea, of course for foreign missions to which he 
had then devoted himself." Besides his Commencement Poem 
he wrote the Class Ode, which was sung on Class Day to the 
old camp-meeting tune to which Mrs. Howe set the words of 
the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." His poem at the 
"Centennial Celebration" of Royalston will long be remembered 
as a tender and loving tribute to the memories and affections 
of her children. 

He studied theology first at Princeton, N. J., but finally 
graduated at Andover, and was immediately ordained as 
missionary of the American Board to Sivas, Turkey. The 
same day of his ordination he was married to Miss Mary E. 
Torrey, a daughter of the noted "Martyr Torrey," and great- 
granddaughter of Dr. Emmons, the famous Puritan divine, 



j(56> HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

and with united zeal they entered upon work for the Armenians; 
but after a service of three years, were compelled to leave the 
field on account of the Bryant's weakness of sight and exposure 
to ophthalmia. The period spent among the Turks and Ar- 
menians of Asia Minor, however, proved a source of much profit 
and influence for him in after years, for his published articles 
upon those themes alone would fill a large volume. 

He was an indefatigable student, and with his multiple 
pulpit and parish demands upon his thought and speech his pen 
was never idle, for stories, poems and other articles went con- 
stantly to the press. 

On his return to this country he soon began his ministerial 
labors. His first church was at Everett, Mass., 'where he re- 
mained seven years. From there he went to Somerville, and 
then as missionary to Lead City, Dakota. He was for eight 
years Superintendent of the City Missionary Society of Wor- 
cester. He held many other charges and was particularly adapt- 
ed and successful in building up "run-down" churches, restoring 
them to a healthier growth and better financial standing. His 
wife died in 1897, and he was again married to Miss Anna F. 
Burnham, who with four of his seven children survive him. He 
died at Scituate, Mass., Sept. 2, 1904. An obituary notice pub- 
lished at the time of his death, says: "Albert Bryant was a man 
of remarkable talents, of great and constant service to man- 
kind, as a missionary abroad and as pastor over several churches, 
and always a force for ideals of life, as well as a man who lived 
for his fellows in every fibre of his being. His personality and 
his career must recall to the minds of those who in his day, — the 
day of the crucial stress of the union, — were thrilled by his in- 
spiring and even prophetic strains." 



MRS. GEORGE WOODBURY. 

Mrs. George Woodbury was born in Warwick Dec. 25, 1826, 
her maiden name being Almira Greenwood Chase. She mar- 
ried George Woodbury of Royalston June 24, 1849, and this 
town was her home ever after. She was prominent in the 
social and religious life of the town, and was deeply interested 





SIDNEY G. BOSWORTH 



REV. ALBERT BRYANT 





AMANDA (BEMIS; SMITH 



MRS. GEORGE WOODBURY 



royalston's poetry 3()i 

in the starting of a pul lie library. Dr. Frank W. Adams in 
his address on the libraries of Royalston at the dedication of 
the Phinehas S. Newton Library says, that the present library 
had its origin in the Ladies Benevolent Society, and that 
to Mrs. George Woodbury, the honored Secretary of the 
Society, must be given the credit of the first suggestion of 
working for that object. She held the pen of a ready and 
prolific writer of verse, and often furnished verses for many 
occasions. The best known of her productions is the hymn 
which was sung by the united choirs of the town to the tune of 
"Auld Lang Syne" at Royalston's Gentennial Celebration, Aug. 
25, 1865. 

The memr'y of a hundred years, 

Unfolds its scattered page. 
And welcomes back, with grateful tears, 

A past, and present age. 
We welcome, now, the good old day, 

Whence gleamed a rising sun, 
To guide our footsteps in the way 

That echoes back "well done." 

The red man's feet had wandered here. 

Where first our grandsires trod; 
Their hearts were filled with hope and fear — 

Their firmest trust was God. 
That hand still leads and guides us on 

When brighter days illume: 
And "home, sweet home," is now our song, 

While paeans swell the tune. 

Amid the nodding forest pines, 

Their homes a shelter found; 
Where now we train the clustering vines. 

And broad, green fields abound. 
Then welcome, welcome, ever more 

The names, our hearts enshrine, 
And while we count their hardships o'er. 

Join all in "Auld Lang Syne." 



We greet with joy, this hallowed day, 
Sweet impress of the past; 



j(52 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

'Twill eYer shed a ling'ring ray, 

Time will not soon outlast. 
We greet you friends, we greet you now, 

Who claim a l:>irthright here, 
Though age has marked the earnest brow, 

And silvered locks appear. 

We welcome back the young and old, 

The statesman, priest and sage, 
And seal a friendship, tried and told, 

That changes not with age. 
We sing a requiem for the dead, 

Our mem'ries still retain, 
And on their graves our tears will shed 

While our short lives remain. 

We welcome back a hundred years, 

And breathe a gentle sigh, 
That mingles with our hopes, and fears, 

'Mid changes ever nigh. 
Soon will another century end. 

Earth's dearest ties be riven. 
Then may these hearts, which sweetly blend, 

Sing with one voice in Heaven, 

The sailing of Mrs. Josephine Ballantine, granddaughter 
of Royalston's second minister, Rev. Ebenezer Perkins, as a 
missionary to India called forth the — 

Lines addressed to Mv. and Mrs. Joseph L. Perkins — 
on the sailing of their daughter as a missionary to 
India, Oct. 23, 1885. 

Mother, the days and months are gone, 
Which I have told you make the year. 

When I shall sail upon the sea, 
So kiss me now\, without a tear, 

For to-morrow I sail for India. 

And look upon me, with the smile 

That gives good cheer to all my Avays; 
Forget it seems the sunshine ray, 



royal.ston's poetry 363 

To guide me on to future days, 
As to-morrow I sail for India. 

And breathe anew the heartfelt prayer, 
That while "I lay me down to sleep" 

That he who holds the unseen winds, 
Will stay their fury on the deep, 

While I to-morrow sail for India. 

And Father, say, as oft you do. 

Something to bring a cheering smile, 
'Twill be like apples set in gold 

While silver pictures, are the while, 
When I to-morrow sail for India. 

Now, good-bye, father, mother, all, 

Whose choicest wish knows no alloy, 
We'll hope for a reunion here. 

Or for sweet days of well-earned joy, 
Beyond the sea, where India lies. 



SIDNEY G. BOSWORTH 

Sidney G. Bos worth, the writer of the hymn sung at 
Koyalston's 150th Anniversary, is a native of Royalston, son 
of Chilson, Jr. and Sarah Prescott Bosworth. He was born 
June 11, 1861 in what was once known as the Withington 
place, just south of the North Royalston Road, on land ad- 
joining the Beryl Hill Farm. The family moved to Win- 
■chendon when he was eleven years old, and that town has 
since been his home. With the exception of a few hymns, 
his poems have been mostly written for special occasions. 
They are in quite a variety of stanzas and bear the mark 
of special care in construction. His longest poem, up to the 
present time, is "Invitation and Welcome" written for the 
Winchendon 150th Anniversary celebration, and consists of 
eight verses of Spencerian stanzas. 

His "Anniversary Hymn," written for the Royalston 150th 
Anniversary, was sung by a Winchendon Chorus Choir at the 
exercises of August 3, 



j(5^ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

I 

There's a thrill of gladness in our hearts to-day, 
As we meet and greet dear ones from far away. 
Tears of joy are falling, glad songs upward soar, 
Glad are we to greet you, dear old home once more. 

Refrain. 
Welcome, happy people! hear all nature say. 
Welcome! yes, thrice welcome, to our town to-day 
See! the fields are teeming, as in days of yore, 
Whispering, welcome, welcome to your home once more. 

II 

Memories dear are crowding, clothing with a charm 
Every recollection of the dear old farm. 
Fancy brings before us scenes of childhood sweet, 
As we come rejoicing, dear old friends to meet. 

Refrain. 

Ill 

Summertime in beauty looks on the display. 
You now make in honor of your natal day. 
Spirits of the fathers, watching from above, 
Mark with glad approval this display of love. 

Refrain. 

His "Response Especial" is a fine trilnite to the "Boys in 
Blue," and a recognition of the country's dependence upon 
God, and is worthy of preservation: 

"God of our fathers! known of old," 
Who in those long dark years of strife 

Gave to the blue, the victory, 

And thus preserved our nation's life. 

To thee, to-day our prayers ascend 

Be thou with us, unto the end. 

Thy nation old, was rent in twain. 

Thy people worshipped wood and stone, 

In our dark hour, it was not so. 
We looked. Oh, God, to thee alone. 



royalston's poetry 365 

Father in heaven! hear us we pray, 
Teach us to look to thee alway. 

Honor we give and praise, to those. 

Who bravely met, our country's foes, 

On battlefield, by campfire bright 

Their hearts were strong, the wrong to right; 

Thou wast their God, and thus 'twill be 

Honor to them. Glory to thee. 

Brave hearts, and true, who wore the blue, 

We meet again to honor thee 

Dearer to us you grow each year, 

Thus may it ever, ever be. 

"Lord God of Hosts!" to thee we pray. 

Be with "The Boys in Blue," to-day. 

Among his other verses are "Lines in Memory of Charles 
Sampson," "Hymn to Men's Bible Class of the Methodist 
Sunday School, Winchendon," and verses for a Birthday 
Club, together with others prepared for various occasions. 



AMANDA BEMIS SMITH 

Amanda {Bemis) Smith, a writer of numerous poems and 
articles on various subjects contributed by her to New England 
papers was born in Warwick, Mass., April 1, 1827, a daughter 
of Luke and Susan Steele Bemis. She was married to Nathan 
Smith of Royalston at the age of nineteen years. Five children 
were born to them, a daughter who died in infancy; a son, 
Leander A., who died in Athol in 1907; a son Loreston B., who 
died in Royalston in 1863 at the age of thirteen years; and two 
daughters, Mrs. Charles H. Grant and Miss Mary Smith both 
of Brattleboro, Vt. 

Her parents moved to Royalston in her early childhood 
and she was a resident in this town until 1871, when with her 
husband, she moved to Athol and later to Springfield, Mass., 
where he died in 1878. After Mr. Smith's death she lived 
in Springfield, Athol, and in the vicinity of Boston a number 
of years before making her home with her daughter in Brattle- 
boro, Vt., where she died Sept. 19, 1915. 



J^^ HIvSTORV OF ROYALSTON 

She was a woman of unusual mental attainments, having 
been a wide and constant reader and student from her child- 
hood. Her poems were published in the Boston Transcript, 
Springfield Republican and New England Farmer and she was 
a frequent contributor to the Worcester West Chronicle from 
the time it was founded for a period of more than forty years. 
Many verses written by her for family reunions and birthday 
anniversaries are treasured by friends and relatives. 

Her poem that became the most widely known was one 
Avritten immediately after the Johnstown, Pa., flood entitled, 
"Johnstown or Conemaugh Flood," which she presented to 
the Governor of Pennsylvania to be sold and the proceeds 
used for the flood sufferers. This was published in both book 
and pamphlet form and was sold in large numbers in Pennsyl- 
vania and adjacent states. 

LIGHT FROM THE DARKNESS 
Comfort ye my people. — Isa. 40:1 

0! Angels that hover o'er scenes of distress; 
0! Spirits that wing your way earthward to bless; 
O! Love, on whose lips is the balm for all woes; 
0! Faith, on whose bosom our dead find repose. 

We wait for thy liidding to lift up the lyre, 

Once more with glad music and hope to inspire 

The homeless, the heart sick, the weary and faint. 

And the hands who are toiling mid Conemaugh's plaint. 

0! Earth, wreathed in beauty of verdure and bloom. 
Fair birthplace of fame and of glory the tomb; 
Full often by earthquake, by storm, flood and fire, 
Thou hast drank back thy life with its human desire. 

And paved with destruction the way for the rew, 
Thus Johnstown's fair city by faith now I view; 
Restored to thy glory by time's ceaseless tide. 
Once more thou shalt rise in thy honor and pride. 

The mountain will fold the fair lake to her breast, 
The rivers course on in mid ocean to rest, — 
Ambition and enterprise rear its high tower 
Where fate felled its thousands in one fatal hour. 



royalston's poetry j<57 

Thy churches, thy schools, thy halls and thy homes, 
Again to the Heavens shall lift up their domes, 
Aud fields again smile in glad beauty, where now 
The sword of destruction hath laid them low. 

The fame of thy morrow shall glitter more bright 
As the veil of thy sadness uplifts to the light ; 
And more shall the love of our Union abound 
When the suffering lambs of the flock are all found. 

One heart, and one hand, is our nation's strong band ; 
"Divided we fall, but united we stand." 
In sorrow or sickness, in death and dismay. 
One Father o'er all — and His love is the way. 

In fair Pennsylvania's fertile domain, — 

Where the blue AUeghanies are woven in chain, — 

'Mong nature's wild grottoes, where fairies might dream. 

Where Stony Creek glides into Conemaugh stream: 

Mid the wealth of her ore, in the pride of her fame. 

Fair Johnstown arose in its ancestral name. 

Her villages, ten, were grouped side by side, 

With homes born of love and of liberty's pride, 

And close to heart, with industrial behest. 

Was the Cambria plant, in its iron bound vest. 

Her wealth and her fame were in many a deal ; 

Our railways have girdled their lines with her steel. 

Here, science and art and knowledge held power. 

With houses of worship and scliools rich in dower ; 

And all that the state wdth its honors afford. 

In the circling domain of the city was stored. 

But, the requiem we sing of her glory today. 

Is the fate of her thousands now gone, — gone away. 

Away on the wings of Eternity's might, — 

Away to the realms of our visionless sight. 

But the breezes that waft from the mountain's fair brow 

And dimple with kisses the streams as they flow ; 

The life that will waken the fields and the flowers 

To mingle their perfume with sunshine and showers. 

Will breathe in memorial for ages to come. 

Of Conemaugh's grief — and the fair city's doom. 

And the spirit of Kickenapawling will wake 



J^S HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

To whisper once more from mountain and lake, 

And mingling a sigh with the past gone by, 

Will retire from its gloom, as love wakes from the tomb. 



DULCENIA M. RUSSELL 

Dulcenia M. Russell, one of Royalston's writers of verse and 
prose was born in Royalston Aug. 8, 1842, her maiden name 
being Mary D. Kendall. She was married in June 1862 to Albert 
F. Russell, and most of her life was spent in Claremont, N. H. 
Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Russell: Harry 
H. Russell born Oct. 4, 1867 and Charles R. Russell born July 
31, 1869. The former is treasurer of the Ashuelot Paper Co., of 
Hinsdale, N. H. Her life was devoted to her family. She died 
in Claremont, N. H., Jan. 8, 1897. 

In 1895 a volume of one hundred and twenty pages of her 
poems was pubhshed, the title of the book being, ''Echoes from 
the Shepherd's Bell." The preface to the book taken from her 
poem "Sunset" is as follows: 

IN GOD'S OTHER SEA 

Float and sail the white ships in purity. 
Sail and float across the sky. 
Devoid of freight, so pure and high. 

When free from sin. 
As a disembodied soul, I would enter in 
The fleetest vessel and sail and sail 
O'er the world below in the crowded vale; 
When weary, guide the tiny ark 
Close to the shore's edge to disembark; 
Straight to the windows of Heaven on wings of love 
Like a weary, worn, beseeching dove, 
I would knock for admittance." 

There are about thirty poems and prose articles in the book, 
the longest poem bears the same title as the book and others 
are "Echoes from the Palace," "Grandma's Giants," "Sunset,'' 
"To the G. A. R." 

The opening lines of "Grandma's Giants" evidently refer 
to the home of her grandmother: 



royalston's poetry 369 

"The cottage was low and old and gray 

The vines were tangled in such a way, 

Holding in embrace its form around 

From highest rafter to lowliest ground; 

As over the hill from its rugged steep 

At the vine-covered house I could hardly peep. 

The path was green, half grown with grass 

In its winding course, inviting to pass 

Strangers to rest 'neath the cooling shade 

Down by the gate in that forest glade. 

The boards of the fence and the gate were I'ough, 

The trees were crooked, knotty and tough. 

The old well-sweep, with its rusty pail 

Above the waters that never fail. 

Hangs winter and summer just the same 

Greeting me first as hither I came. 

Marigold, hollyhock and crimson phlox, 

With vines and moss hid the little box; 

Evergreens, with flowers, just covered the way, 

This house of stone of grandma's — gray; 

Green, yellow and sober brown. 

Mottled, mixed in hopeless tone. 

Nestled this cottage:" 

The opening lines of the poem "Sunset" give a beautiful 
description : 

'Tt is sunset; behind the western hills 

Slowly the sun is sinking out of sight, 

Lingering yet on fields and woods and rills, 

Ere he bids the world again good- night. 

In loving benediction rest its rays, in hue and shades 

Rivalling tints of the bow in the sky, 

Gleaming l)rightly, anon to fade, 

Slowl}' dissolving, at last to die. 

Away, away, in the open space 

Scattered and gone in the empty air, 

In silence to vanish and leave no trace 

Save a gleam of glory resting there. 

Only twelve hours agone, at the rim 



SJO HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

(3f the horizon in the light so dim, 
Had the sun met anew this side of earth, 
Kissing the hilltops with morning's breath; 
Creeping through the forest of leafy green, 
Creeping and lighting with rosy sheen, 
Awaking the birds from their frightful sleep, 
Through and through the wooded deep; 
Across the meadow the golden ball, 
Flaming and sparkling in silent fall. 
Tosses and flings in careless abandon, 
Lighting a million Wades at random." 



PECK'S POEM ON UNIVERSALISM 

"When it was written or by whom, seems now to be a prol)lem 
somewhat difficult of solution; for we have made considerable 
exertions to ascertain the fact, besides writing to a number of 
gentlemen bearing the name of Peck, but have not been able 
to learn anything of our author, and it is to say the least a ques- 
tion whether "John Peck" is a veritable person or whether 
it is not an anonymous signature." 

The above quotation is from the preface to the fourth edition 
of Peck's poem. 

But "John Peck was a veritable person." We find in the 
early history of Royalston that John Peck moved from Rehobath 
and redeemed from the primeval forest the place formerly known 
as the Whitman Gates place. He was uncle to Benoni Peck, Esq., 
and grandfather to the late Gov. Peck of Vermont. 

We have no means of knowing when Peck's Poem first 
appeared in print, but it passed through several editions, the 
third edition having been issued from the press in 1813. About 
the middle of the last century it was with some other pieces, 
reproduced by John P. Jewett & Co., Boston, and H. P. B. 
Jewett, Cleveland, Ohio. The poem was probably called out 
by the preaching of Rev. Hosea Ballon and Sebastian Streeter, 
men who are sometimes styled the fathers of Universalism in 
America. They both originated in Richmond N. H., an 
adjoining town and commenced their life work in that vicinity. 
When his large family had grown up, he removed with them to 
Vermont. 



royalston's poetry 371 

The opening verse of the httle volume reads: 

What if the author is no bard 
But writes a doggerel song; 
What if the muse her aid refuse 
W^hile he doth creep along. 

Some of the disconnected verses are as follows: 

"Some think the just alone reach heaven, 
But all who curse and swear, 
And lie and steal, get drunk and kill 
Find safe admittance there." 

'■'King Pharaoh and his mighty host 
Had Godlike honors given; 
A pleasant breeze brought them with ease 
By water unto Heaven." 

"So all the filthy Sodomites 
When God bade Lot retire, 
Went in a trice to Paradise 
On rapid wings of fire." 

"And when the filthy Cananites 
To Joshua's host were given. 
The sun stood still so they might kill 
And send them off to Heaven." 



WILLIAM M. LEATHE 

Among the natives of Royalston who have engaged in the 
writing of verse which is of merit is William M. Leathe. 

He was born in Royalston March 22, 1821, and was the third 
of a family of four sons and two daughters of Benjamin and 
Paulena (Chase) Leathe. His education was received in the 
schools of Royalston and at Andover. About 1844 he went to 
Fitchburg where he was for many years engaged in the palm 
leaf business and was later in company with Gardner Farrar 
and Henry Clark under the firm name of Clark, Farrar & Leathe 
in the manufacture of Shaker hoods. He was also for several 



J72 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

years in the book and stationary trade at a store in the American 
house block in Fitchljurg. He was one of the pioneer aboli- 
tionists of Fitchburg and was a member of the old Trinitarian 
church till after the destruction of Slavery, when it was 
disbanded, and he united with the; Eollstone Congregational 
church of that city. He was also a strong advocate of the 
Temperance Reform. 

He was actively engaged in l)usiness until 1874, after which 
time, he devoted a portion of his time to work of a philan- 
thropic nature, and was one of the most active members of 
the corporation of the Fitchburg Home for Old Ladies, being a 
member of the board of managers from its organization until 
his death. He was married Oct. 29, 1844, to Miss Sarah M. 
Davis of Templeton. They lived to celebrate their golden 
wedding (3ct. 29, 1894, and 60th wedding anniversary in 1904. 

Among his publications is a little book of poems dedicated to 
"The love of truth and righteousness." "Charity or the Golden 
Rule," occupies thirty-three eight-line stanzas in which the senti- 
ments of faith, hope tnd charity predominate. Then follows: 
"Who is My Neighbor," "What Will it Profit a Man," "Words of 
Admonition," "The Old Year" and others of a serious and re- 
flective nature. "My Father's and My Mother's Fireside" is 
a beautiful trilnite to his early home, from which we quote the 
following verses: 

"Oh never amid the gay circles of pride 
Shall I cease to think of my father's fireside, 
Where music, sweet converse, affection and play 
Filled up the glad hours at the close of each day. 

We oft sought applause in that father's fond eyes 
How precious his precept, instructive and wise; 
One book he held forth as our fight and our guide, 
And we searched for its truths by father's fireside. 

As for me, I have seen this world's winding ways, 
Have sighed o'er its folfies and smiled at its praise; 
Have sat at rich banquets in mansions and hall, 
Still my father's fireside was dearest of all. 



CHAPTER XIV 
BIOGRAPHICAL 

COL. GEORGE WHITNEY 

Among the roll of Royalston's most honored and success- 
ful business men, is the name of Col. George Whitney. He 
was born in Royalston, Sept. 21, 1817, a son of Amos and 
Sophia Whitney and was always a resident of his native 
town, contributing in many ways to make it a model and 
prosperous comnmnity. He was brought up on a farm, and 
started out early in life to earn his own living, being first a 
stage coach driver, and also of the big freight teams between 
Royalston and Boston. For years he was a conspicuous figure 
at the annual meetings of the old stage drivers of the period 
antedating the time of the railroad. After leaving the busi- 
ness of freighting merchandise to Boston, Col. Whitney gave 
his attention to the chair and lumber business at South 
Royalston, and on the building of the old Vermont & Massa- 
chusetts Railroad, and the establishment of a depot at South 
Royalston, he was given the position of depot agent, which 
he held for many years. 

In 1858 soon after the death of Rufus Bullock, Mr. Whit- 
ney with Daniel Day of Royalston, bought the woolen mill 
at South Royalston, and for a few years they carried on the 
manufacture of cassimeres. After Mr. Day went out of the 
business. Col. Whitney had associated with him Rufus S. 
Frost of Boston and later James Phillips, Jr. of Fitchburg. 
For several years he carried on the business alone assisted 
by his son George E. Whitney, and also operated a mill in 
Enfield, N. H. of which his son George was the general man- 
ager. 

Col. Whitney was prominent in public life for many years. 
In 1856 he served his town on the Board of Selectmen, repre- 
sented the Second Representative District of Worcester 
County in the Legislature of 1859, and was also a Repre- 
sentative in 1893. He was a member of the State Senate 
in 1863 and '64, and of the Governor's Council from 1873 to 



374 HISTORY OF KOYALSTON 

1877 inclusive, and at his last election reseived the unusual 
honor of a unanimous election. We doubt whether the 
records will show any other public man in the Common- 
wealth as having a like record of unanimity at any election 
where 30,000 or more ballots have been cast. He was also 
at one time prominently mentioned as candidate for the 
Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. He served 
on the Commission to ascertain and establish the boundary 
line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire and served 
the State and community with ability in many other capac- 
ities. He was a director of the Millers River National Bank, 
Athol, for a period of about thirty years. 

The high esteem in which he was held by his fellowtowns- 
men was well shown on the occasion of his 80th birthday, 
when the whole town turned out to do him honor, and gave 
him a grand reception in the town hall. 

He married Eliza J. Simpson of Boston, April 14, 1812. 
Their children were Sophia Elizabeth, born May 2, 1814, 
who died when only two and a half months old, Mary Eliza- 
beth born Oct. 11, 1847 and George Ellis born Jan. 30, 1864. 

Mrs. Whitney died and he married, second, Mary 

Evelyn Carter, Aug. 21, 1890. She was born in Winchendon, 
June 17, 1849. 

Colonel Whitney died Dec. 26, 1897. 



WILLIAM FORDYCE BIGELOW 

^Ym. Fordyce Bigelow was born in Montpelier, Vt., Dec. 14, 
1817, son of Joseph Bigelow. He weighed only three pounds at 
his birth, but he did not lack vitality when grown up, for he was 
a very energetic man almost to his last days. When he was 
seven years old his father had a shock and Fordyce left home 
and came to Royalston to live with one Peter Prescott. When 
only fourteen years old he walked from Royalston to his old 
home in Montpelier, Vt. with only twenty-five cents of money 
with him, and after a visit of two weeks walked the greater part 
of the way back to Royalston. At the Prescott home he was 
kept busy all the time; the schoolhouse was just across the road, 
and so valuable was his time that he even had to go home at 
recess time and work in the garden or at other employment. 




WILLIAM F. BIGELOW 



BIOGRAPHICAL 375 

His father gave him his time when eighteen years old. After 
leaving the Prescott home he went to South Royahton and 
worked in Harrington's brush wood shop, and then to South 
Howeville in Fitzwilliam where he turned pails until he bought 
the Heywood farm about 1846. He remodelled the buildings 
and had one of the largest and most convenient barns in Northern 
Worcester County. He married Susan Maria Taft March 25, 
1847 and brought her to his new farm home. He brought this 
rundown farm into a highly cultivated condition, and became 
one of the most successful farmers in this section of the country. 
He engaged in the fattening of cattle, and used to raise all the 
corn for fattening his stock, and also large quantities of grain 
especially all the wheat for flour for the family. During the 
Civil War time he used to sell his seed wheat for four dollars per 
bushel. He believed in early rising, getting up at two o'clock 
in the morning, and going to Keene, N. H., twenty miles distant, 
with his grain for the grist mill, arriving there before the miller 
was up. In 1871 he sold his farm and came to Royalston Centre 
and bought the Holman place where he spent his days; he died 
April 25, 1900. 

He married, second, Dulcena Davis Reed. The children of 
Wm. Fordyce and Susan (Taft) Bigelow were: Delia, born Jan. 
1, 1848, who married John A. Lowe of Worcester; they had one 
son Allan Lowe, who is a draftsman in Worcester; Joseph H. 
Bigelow, born in Royalston, May 17, 1849, married Belle Todd of 
Springfield, Vt. He has been for many years foreman in the toy 
factory of Milton Bradley, Springfield. He has no children. 

Lyman E. Bigelow, born June 18, 1851, married Malora R. 
Stone of Marlboro, N. H. June 22, 1878. He stayed on the farm 
until twenty years old, and attended the district schools, after 
which he served an apprenticeship to learn the tool maker's 
trade at Marlboro, N. H., and is now located in Orange, Mass., 
where he has been tool maker in the New Home Sewing Machine 
Co. for thirty-seven years. They have no children. 



GEORGE FLETCHER MILLER 

George Fletcher Miller was born in Westminster, Mass. 
April 19, 1804, the son of Asa and Bertha (Winship) Miller, 
and v/as the fourth of seven children. Early in life a musical 



J7d HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

talent created an inspiration for its perfection, and during the 
summer of 1829 he taught his first singing school At that time 
he told a friend it was his gmbition to have engraved upon his 
tombstone "He taught little children to sing." 

In 1836 he was engaged by the First Congregational Church 
and Society of Royalston to guide "Songs of the Sanctuary," 
and consequently moved to this town about that time, and was 
employed by the parish to have charge of the singing until his 
death, with the exception of some five or six years when he taught 
vocal music in the Westfield Normal School from 1851 to 1858 
and took charge of the singing in the Congregational Church 
of that town. He was Town Clerk of Royalston from 1847 to 
1851 inclusive, was a member cf the school committee, and also 
for many years clerk of the parish and church, and the records of 
both town and church are memorials of his fine penmanship. 

He was a teacher of singing at the Massachusetts Agricultural 
College at Am.herst soon after the college was opened, and was 
widely known as a teacher of singing schools in this whole section 
of the country having at the time of his death just commenced 
his 368th and 369th singing schools. He died in 1875 from 
the effects of an injury received from being thrown from an 
express wagon while descending New Salem hill. He married 
Malinda Edgell of Westminster. They had five children, Mary 
Edgell, Sarah Elizabeth, Susan Maria, Emily Bullock and George 
Edward. 



HERMAN M. PARTRIDGE 

Herman M. Partridge was born in Templeton, Jan. 22, 1832. 
His early life was spent in Templeton and Winchendon. He 
married Emily Bullock Miller, daughter of George F. and 
Melinda Miller, Nov. 24, 1859. He enlisted in the Civil War in 
Co. E. of the 53d Regiment Mass. Volunteers in the fall of 1862 
and was promoted to Quartermaster Sergeant, Oct. 17, 1862. 
He was prominent in musical circles throughout this part of the 
state, in his earlier years playing the organ, afterward as a teacher 
of music in different towns and a leader of choirs in Fitchburg, 
Athol and Winchendon, and for several years was the leader at 
the First Congregational Church of Royalston, holding that 
position at the time of his death. 



BIOGRAPHICAL J77 

Most of his life after his return from the war was spent in 
l^oyalston. He was engaged in the insurance business, and 
at one time was engaged in the manufacture of crutches, and all 
kinds of kindergarten materials for schools, Indian clubs, dumb- 
bells, etc. He was a member of Mt. Rollstone Lodge of Odd 
Fellows of Fitchburg, the Grand Army Post of Fitchburg, the 
Royalston Grange, of which he was one of the charter members. 
He took great interest in the regimental association of the Fifty- 
Third Regiment, of which he was for many years the efficient 
secretary, making all the arrangements for the annual reunions. 

He died Dec. 13, 1904 

His son, Edward M. Partridge, born in Royalston Dec. 23, 
1862 is a druggist in Millers Falls. 

J. MILTON PARTRIDGE 

J. Milton Partridge, son of Maynard and Mary (Upham) 
Partridge, was born in South Royalston, Aug. 26, 1833. He 
attended school in that village and went to Winchendon with 
his parents when young. He married Elvira J. Samson of Win- 
chendon Nov. 10, 1857. They soon after moved to Royalston 
which was henceforth their home. He was a respected citizen 
of the town and was engaged in the lumber business and farming. 
He united with the Congregational Church in 1861, and was 
elected deacon in January, 1893, which office he held until his 
resignation in 1903. His wife died April 3, 1901 and soon after 
her death he went to live with his adopted daughter Mrs. Stella 
V. Newton, which was his home as long as he lived. He died 
July 12, 1915. 



STEPHEN H. HEYWOOD 

*S. H. Heywood was born in Royalston, Sept. 4. 1833. He 
lived at home on the farm with his father until twenty-one years 
of age, when he went to Winchendon to work for Murdock & 
Fairbanks in the wooden ware shop for about six years; then in 
company with S. N. & George Holman he bought out the 
Howeville property and manufactured wooden ware for ten 
years, when he sold out and went to Jackson, Mich., and shipped 
eggs for two years. He then went to Myrudale, Pa. from which 
place he shipped butter for three years, and then went to Troy, 



Sys HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

Pa., and started the first creamery in that section, which he run 
twenty years and then sold out, since which time he has spent 
much of his spare time in travelling. He never married, nor 
joined any secret organization. 



CYRUS P. REED 

Cyrus P. Reed, son of Capt. Cyrus B. and Seraph (Goddard) 
Reed, was born in Royalston, April 12, 1834, the oldest of four 
children. He was married April 2, 1858 to Miss Sarah Wheeler, 
daughter of Leonard Wheeler, who was the village blacksmith 
for many years. They had two children: Charles W., who is 
the proprietor of a livery stable in Orange and Lizzie M. 

He was a teamster and carried on a small farm. Was promi- 
nent in town affairs and for many years was a familiar figure as 
one of the marshals at the fairs of the Worcester Northwest 
Agricultural Society. He was a charter member of Royalston 
Grange. 



WILLIAM D. RIPLEY 

William D. Ripley, who was for many years a familiar figure 
on Royalston Common, was a native of Norwich, Conn., the 
oldest son of Dr. Dwight Ripley, a successful physician. He 
married Emily Bullock, daughter of Hon. Rufus Bullock, and 
sister of Governor Bullock, and his home at the old Bullock 
mansion on Royalston Common was one of culture and refine- 
ment and approached the ideal of an old time country seat. 
He was a man of fine presence, courteous manner, and exemplary 
character. He died in 1880 at the age of eighty-one 
years. 



BENJAMIN WARD UPHAM 

Benjamin Ward Upham, seventh generation from John 
Upham of Weymouth, Mass., was born in Royalston, Oct. 
29, 1809. At the age of ten years he was left an orphan by 
the death of his father from inhaling the gas of a charcoal 
pit he was burning. During his boyhood he Avorked on farms 




RKNJAAIIX WARD UPIIAM 




cal?:b a. cook 



BIOGRAPHICAL 379 

in Royplston, with the exception of a few months spent in 
Boston. 

April 21, 1839, he was married to OUve Bartlett and 
moved to the farm where he Hved until his death April 1, 
1893. To them were born three children of whom one, 
Elmer Benjamin Upham of Athol is still living. 

In 1852, his first wife having died he married Phebc 
Kimball Tenney, by whom he had one child, Arthur Aquila 
Upham of Whitewater, Wisconsin. His second wife died in 
1861, and in 1863 he married Lucy Norcross French who 
survived him nine years. 

Benjamin Upham was a man of sterling character and 
strict integrity. He was proud to tell his boys that when 
he bought the farm, he was able to borrow money without 
placing a mortgage on the place. He had a "holy horror" of 
being in debt and would scarcely ever buy anything without 
paying for it on the spot. Although never very robust, he 
was an exceedingly industrious man, always on time with 
his work, retaining sufficient strength to do his chores until 
within three weeks of his death at the age of eighty-three. 



CALEB A. COOK 

Caleb A. Cook, son of David and Nelly (Garfield) Cook, 
was born in Royalston, April 10, 1821. His grandfather 
David Cook bought a place in West Royalston and in the 
first half of the last century kept tavern there; he drew the 
pension of an orderly sergeant, and died in 184-4 at the age 
of ninety-one years. 

CalelVs early life was spent on his father's farm in West 
Royalston. He learned the watchmaker's trade when a 
young man and did quite a business at his home repairing 
watches, clocks and jewelry. He went to Athol in 1864 and 
engaged in the grocery business with P. C. Tyler. He soon 
disposed of his interest in that l)usiness and went into the 
jewelry business with S. W. Bliss, and after a few years en- 
gaged in the jewelry and watchmaker's business for himself, in 
which he continued until his health failed and he sold out the 
business. While a resident of Royalston he was prominent 
in town affairs and was a member of the Board of Selectmen 



^gQ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

in 1858, '59 and '60. He was a candidate for Representative 
to the General Court, and was defeated by only a few votes. 
He was also a Justice of the Peace for several years. He 
married Susan Herrick of Royalston, May 8, 1842. They 
had three children: a son who died at four years of age, 
Stella who married Frank Hutchinson of Athol, and Sarah A. 
who married Charles H. Tvler, for many years a prominent 
grocer of Athol. Mrs. Cook died Aug. 11, 1881, and he 
married, second, Jane L. Case, March 30, 1882. 
He died April 13, 1888. 



REV. EBENEZER CUTLER 

Rev. Ehenezer Culler was born in Royalston, Aug. 21, 
1822. He graduated from the University of Vermont in 
the class of 1845, having entered the college from Water- 
ford, Vt., and graduated from Andover Theological Seminary 
in 1848. He received the degree of A.M. from the former 
in 1849 and of D.D. from the Theological Seminary in 1866. 
Was ordained a Congregational clergyman in 1850. He 
preached in St. Albans, Vt., 1850 to 1855, when he received 
a call to become the pastor of Union Congregational Church 
in Worcester, Mass., where he was installed, Sept. 6, 1855. 
Dr. Cutler continued his ministry at that church with grow- 
ing reputation, until 1865, when he was elected President 
of the University of Vermont of which he had been one of 
the Trustees from 1853 to 1857. This called forth an urgent 
appeal from his people not to leave them, and he conse- 
quently declined the flattering offer. Shortly after, he 
received a tender of the Professorship of Ecclesiastical History 
in Hartford Theological Seminary, but this also he promptly 
put aside without waiting for it to take formal shape. In 
the autumn of 1874 he initiated the proceedings which 
resulted in the organization of the Worcester Congregational 
Club, of which he became the first president. The sub- 
sequent history of the club amply vindicated itself and hini. 
In the winter of 1877, a bronchial trouble compelled him to 
seek relief in other climates — first going to Florida and in 
the summer to Europe. He was absent from his pulpit 
until the following October, when he resumed preaching. 



BIOGRAPHICAL, 3S1 

although not fully recovered. Early in 1878, under stress 
of circumstances, he finally resigned his pulpit, retaining 
however, his office. The pastoral relation was not dissolved 
until the 11th of October, 1880, just before the installation 
of his successor. The council in dismissing him made mention 
of his "wide usefulness" and "profound scholarship," and 
gave him the name of "a Christian man without fear and 
without reproach." 

He continued to worship with Union Church, which sub- 
sequently testified its appreciation and esteem by honoring 
him with the title of pastor emeritus, which he held until his 
death, Jan. 16, 1898. 



REV. HENRY CUMMINGS 

Rev. Henry Cunimings, second son of Joshua and Hep- 
zibah (Hale) Cummings, was born in Royalston, Sept. 12, 
1823. His parents removed to Westminster, Mass., when 
he was twelve years old. He attended Westminster Academy 
and was admitted to Amherst College on his twenty-first 
birthday, graduating in the class of 1847. Graduated at 
Andover Theological Seminary in 1850. He was ordained 
and installed pastor of the Congregational Church in Newport, 
N. H., July 16, 1851, and after fifteen years, was dismissed 
July 25, 1866, to be installed Sept. 5, 1866, pastor at Rutland, 
Mass., where he served nearly eight years, when the pastoral 
relation was severed by council, July 1, 1874, that he might 
be installed four weeks later in Strafford, Vt., where he 
served for more than thirty years, until released by council 
June 6, 1905, to become pastor emeritus. His ministerial 
service extended over a period of more than fifty years 
and was marked by seasons of deep religious interest. 

A notable revival in the Newport pastorate brought 
more than one hundred into the church on confession of 
faith, including in some families three generations, while 
in the first year of the Rutland pastorate about fifty united 
with the church. Of scholarly tastes and firm convictions, 
he proved himself an able and faithful minister of the Word. 

A sound counselor and trusted friend, he won the respect 
of all, while many came to hold him in veneration. He 
married, Sept. 9, 1851, Mary A. Beaman, daughter of Ephraim 



382 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

and Mary (Roper) Beaman of Princeton, Mas.s., who died 
in Strafford, Vt., Oct. 11, 1904. Five children were born 
to them in Newport, N. H. 

The chikh'en were: Deacon Henry B. Cummings of 
Strafford, Vt.; Mrs. Mary Elizabeth, wife of Rev. Thomas 
Gamble of Witenhope, Cape Colony; Rev. Geo. H. Cum- 
mings of West Boylston, Mass.; Miss Anna M. Cummings, 
Principal of Huguenot Seminary, Wellington, Cape Colony; 
and Miss Sarah Cummings, who ministered to both her 
parents in the Strafford home through their declining years. 
He died in Strafford, Vt., Feb. 21, 1913. 



SOLON BRYANT 

Solon Bryant, who w^as prominent in the wholesale notion 
trade of New England for more than a quarter of a century, 
although not born in Royalston, was closely identified with 
the town, his mother being a member of the well-known 
Pierce family, while the larger part of his boyhood was passed 
in the town and some of his business life. He was born in 
Troy, N. H., in 1835, the son of Lucian and Charlotte 
(Pierce) Bryant. When five or six years old his parents 
removed to South Royalston, where his boyhood was passed. 
At the age of fifteen years, he entered the employ of Lee & 
Wood, who conducted a general store in Templeton and did 
a large business for those times. When the war broke out, 
he served in the Commissary Department and on his return 
North associated himself with his stepfather, John Pierce, in 
the meat business. 

His next venture was a store in Whitinsville, Mass., which 
he carried on for two years and then entered a wholesale 
dry goods house in Boston. 

After a while he started in business for himself and for 
two or three years drove a large four-horse peddlers' wagon 
and delivered Yankee notions at the door of the merchants. 
In 1870, he opened, in connection with this, a wholesale 
warehouse on Mechanic Street in Worcester and formed 
a partnership with Col. D. D. Wiley under the firm name 
of Bryant & Wiley, which continued until Colonel Wiley with- 
drew from the business to enter the United States Customs 



BIOGRAPHICAI, 383 

House in Boston, when Mr. Bryant assumed the business 
under the firm name of Solon Bryant & Co., and under 
this name became prominent throughout the country. A 
quiet and unassuming gentleman of the old school, he was 
a potent factor in the building of the city of Worcester as 
a wholesale center. He was a charter member of Piedmont 
Congregational Church, and deeply interested in Y. M. C. A. 
work. He died in December, 1901, of heart failure. 



GEORGE EDWARD MILLER 

George Edward Miller, son of George F. and Melinda Miller, 
was born in Royalston, Sept. 2, 1838. He went to Norwalk, 
Conn., early in life and became associated with the banking in- 
terests of that place, which interests he maintained almost 
throughout the more than forty years that he lived there. He 
became identified with the Norwalk Savings Society early in 
his banking career and was later made Secretar)' and Treasurer 
of that institution, which position he held at the time of his 
death, Dec. 27, 1903. He married Fannie Miner Brooks, dau- 
ghter of Charles Coe Brooks, Esq., of New York City, October 
18, 1864, from which union there were three children : George 
North Miller, deceased, and Sarah Brooks Miller and Charles 
Edward Miller, who are still living. Mrs. Miller died June 2, 
1908. 



CHA.PTER XV 
SONS OF ROYALSTON 

ASAHEL PECK 

Asahel Peck, son of Squire and Elizabeth (Goddard) 
Peck, was born in Royalston, Sept. 1803. His father 
went to Vermont and settled at Montpelier when Asahel 
was only three years old. Ashael's youth was passed on 
the farm where he developed the sturdy vigor, mental, moral 
and physical, that was so marked throughout his career. 
He was educated in the common schools and fitted at the 
Washington County Grammar School to enter the sophomore 
class of the University of Vermont in 1824. He left the 
University in his senior year at the invitation of the President 
of a French College in Canada for a course of study in 
the French language in the family of the latter. He studied 
law in the office of his oldest brother, Nahum Peck, at 
Hinesburg, Vt., who was one of the leading lawyers of that 
section, and afterwards for a year or two in the office of 
Bailey & Marsh at Burlington. 

He was admitted to the bar in March, 1832, practiced 
alone for a while and afterward in partnership with Archi- 
bald Hyde and later with D. A. Smalley. He was a man 
of solid rather than brilliant part, but he made his way 
steadily. One writer in speaking of him said that it was 
"characteristic of him that he was slow in everything, but 
in the end he was almost always sure to be right, and that 
he regarded as the only point worth gaining." He was a 
thorough and patient student, "possessing a tenacious mem- 
ory he held firmly all that he had secured in years of study 
and could instantly bring his great store of learning to bear 
upon any legal question presented to him." 

One critic has said that no man in New England since 
Judge Story has equalled him in knowledge of the common 
law of England and the law of equity. He and Rufus 
Choate were once pitted against each other in a case, and 
that wonderful genius of the profession, professed astonish" 



SONS OF ROYALSTON JS5 

ment to find such a lawyer in Vermont, and besought him to 
move to Boston, where he would surely win both fame and 
fortune. But there were higher things in life for Peck and 
he persisted in staying in Vermont, whose practice he believed 
was the best in the Union to develop a lawyer of really great 
attainments. He was judge of the circuit court from 1851 
to 1857 when it ceased. 

In 1860 he was elected a Judge of the Supreme Court 
under the present system and held the position continuously, 
though desiring toward the end to retire, until his election 
as Governor of Vermont in 1874. 

He was nominated then in response to a strong demand 
from the people and against the calculations of the old line 
of managing politicians. Generally speaking his adminis- 
tration was able, sound and deeper in its impress on the 
opinion of the people than that of almost any governor 
for many yeers. On his retirement from the governor's 
chair Judge Peck retired to his farm in Jericho where he 
lived in the enjoyment of rural life, of which he was 
passionately fond, until his death May 18, 1879. 

In politics Judge Peck was by nature and early affilia- 
tions a Democrat. But the aggressions of the Slavercracy 
early disgusted him, and he became a Free Soiler in 1848, 
being a member of the famous Buffalo Convention that 
nominated Van Buren and Adams, and after the formation 
of the Free Democracy or Liberty Party he identified him- 
self with it, was its candidate for Congress in the Burlington 
district and naturally was one of the pioneers in the for- 
mation of the Republican party. 

Judge Peck was too great a lawyer, too large minded a 
man to allow the forms of law to outweigh the essentials 
of right and justice. He was profoundly religious, and 
Governor W. P. Dillingham, who was his Secretary of civil 
and military affairs, says that he was one of the best Bibli- 
cal students he ever met, and that he would sit up until 
nearly midnight talking of religious matters, of the lofty 
purity of Isaiah and of the mission of Christ. He never 
married. 



386 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

JAMES ORMOND WILSON 

James Ormond Wilson, one of Royalston's most dis- 
tinguished sons, was born April 2, 1825, a son of James 
and Chloe (Murdock) Wilson. He received his early edu- 
cation at the West Brattleboro Academy, in Vermont; the 
New Salem Academy and Williston Seminary at Easthampton. 
Graduated at Dartmouth College in 1850 receiving the degrees 
of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. 

Following his graduation at Dartmouth he went to Wash- 
ington, D. C. and accepted a position in the Treasury De- 
partment where he remained until 1868. In the meantime 
he had studied law and was admitted to the bar of the 
District. He served eight years on the Board of Education, 
after which, in 1870, he was appointed to the pD^ition of 
superintendent of the schools of Washington, which he held 
for fifteen consecutive years. During that service he in- 
stituted and carried to successful fruition many reform 5. 
To him is given much credit for the improved sanitary 
condition in the school buildings, the type of eight-room 
building now in general use being of his design. He was a 
leader m school progress, and introduced industrial draw- 
ing, manual training, domestic economy and military train- 
ing, and was instrumental in having these subjects adopted 
by many of the country's schools. 

Under his direction exhibits were prepared by the district 
school children and sent to the international exhibitions at 
Vienna and Paris and elsewhere. At each of these exhibi- 
tions the work prepared by the Washington students was 
awarded the medal of highest honor. 

The French government voted Mr. Wilson as superin- 
tendent of schools, special personal recognition for the work 
displayed by the students at the exhibition at Paris. 

From 1870 he was connected with many educational 
and charitable institutions and societies. He was for some 
time President of the board of trustees of Garheld Hospital, 
and was also connected with the Industrial Home School, 
Columbia Historical Society, the George Washington Univer- 
sity, National Metropolitan Bank, Industrial Education of 



SONS OF ROY ALSTON JS? 

Colored Youths, the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church 
and the American Colonization Society. 

After his retirement from the School Board he was 
actively interested in affairs pertaining to Education. 

He married Miss Sarah Hungerfortl. They had three 
daughters, Clara, Anne and Eleanor, the latter of whom, 
married Dr. A. L. Wilson of Lynchburg, Va. Mrs. Sarah 
Hungerford Wilson died in 1906. J. Ormond Wilson died 
April 2, 1911 on his 86th birthday anniversary, when it had 
been planned for one hundred and fifty teachers and officials 
of the Washington schools, and others, to visit him and 
extend their felicitations. 

The Washington Evening Star said of him: ''The death 
of J. Ormond Wilson at the moment when his host of friends 
were making ready to congratulate him on his eighty-sixth 
birthday was particularly sad. Scores of old friends, men 
and women who had known him for more than a century, 
mature men who had been his boj's in the schools of the 
older Washington, were calling to felicitate him. Instead of 
a cheery welcome death's signal met them at the door. Mr. 
Wilson had many friends — real friends — and this fact as- 
serts the character of the man." 



HON. GEORGE CARTER RICHARDSON 

Hon. George Carter Richardson, son of Dr. Thomas and 
Jane (Brown) Richardson, was born in Royalston, April 27, 
1808. 

At the age of fifteen years he entered upon mercantile 
pursuits as a clerk and salesman in the large country store 
of Franklin Gregory in Royalston. At the age of twenty- 
two he became a partner with Mr. Gregory, and so continued 
for five years, when he established with Hiniry Earle a dry- 
gooc's jobbing business in Boston, the firm being Richardson 
& Earle. This continued about two years, when he entered 
into partnership with George D. Dutton. The firm thus 
formed continued as Dutton & Richardson and Dutton, 
Richardson & Co. up to 1855 during which was developed 
a large importing trade with England, France and Germany, 
Mr. Richardson visiting England to establish business re- 



Jgg HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

lations with foreign manufacturers. From 1855 to 1864 he 
was associated with several different partners. 

In 1864 the firm of George C. Richardson & Co. was 
formed to carry on the dry-goods commission business. 
The house did a very large business from the first, but 
in 1865 took an important step in accepting the business 
which had been carried on by A. & A. Lawrence & Co. 
amounting to many miUions of dollars. George C. Richardson 
& Co. thus became practically the successors of Lawrence & 
Co. as agents for several of the great manufacturing corpora- 
tions in Lowell and elsewhere. Mr Richardson retired from 
the firm July 1, 1885. In 1850, he became a cUrector of the 
Union Bank of which he was president a number of years from 
1863. He was a trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Com- 
pany of New York from June, 1870 until his death, and was 
a trustee of the Boston Provident Institution for Saving and 
a director in various corporations. He was a member of the 
Boston Board of Trade of which he was president from 1865 
to 1867 and in that office by his careful study of the business 
interests of the country and his practical suggestions, exerted 
a large and beneficial influence in the commercial world. 

He was one of the originators in 1868 of the National 
Association of Cotton Manufacturers and Planters, a body 
which has done valuable service in the development of the 
cotton industry. 

In 1862 he was elected Mayor of the city of Cambridge. 
The Cambridge Chronicle of Nov. 29, 1862 had the follow- 
ing to say of his nomination and the party which nominated 
him: "The legal voters of Cambridge have been notified to 
assemble on Monday next in the various wards, to give in 
their ballots for a Mayor, Aldermen, Councilmen, and other 
city and ward officers for the ensuing year. The party 
first in the field call themselves the Citizens. They have 
adopted as their motto 7io monopoly, and declaim against 
what they denominate "monopolizing corporations." Their 
attention is directed particularly to the question of pro- 
viding better and cheaper railroad accommodations. 

"They held their first meeting Nov. 17, and nominated 
George C. Richardson, Esq. for Mayor. He required time 
for consideration ami at an adjourned meeting, on Monday 
evening last, accepted the nomination. He was subsequently 



SONS OF ROYALSTON 3S9 

waited upon by a committee, and appeared and briefly 
addressed those present." 

At the election George C. Richardson, Esq. received 
1313 votes out of 1317, the whole number cast. The Chronicle, 
referring to the election said: "By the foregoing returns it 
will be seen that the 'No Monopoly,' party have succeeded 
by an overwhelming majority and we hope the effect will 
be to give us better railroad accommodations in Cambridge 
than we now have and at the lowest possible rate of fare." 

This was in Civil War times and Mayor Richardson 
closed his inaugural address as follows: "It falls to our lot 
to assume the administration of affairs at a time of peculiar 
trial and solicitude when our city, our State, and our 
Nation are laboring under the burdens and suffering the 
calamities of a war the end and issue of which are yet beyond 
the reach of human vision. We need enlightenment and 
sustaining strength from Him who sees the end from the 
beginning, and who directs the affairs of mankind." 

So popular was his administration that at the end of 
the year the citizens of Cambridge without distinction of 
party nominated him again for mayor by acclamation, but 
he declined to serve again stating that circumstances beyond 
his control prevented its acceptance. 

Mr. Richardson was married Feb. 2, 1832, to Susan 
Gore Moore, daughter of Abel Moore of Boston and grand- 
daughter of Jonathan Hunnewell of Roxbury. She died 
Nov. 18, 1845. By this marriage there were four sons. 
Dr. Henry A. Richardson the second son, was appointed an 
assistant surgeon in the navy, the first appointment of this 
kind made from New England during the war of the Rebel- 
lion. He contracted a pulmonary disease, while serving in 
the Cambridge company, and died at home July 23, 1863. 
Mr. Richardson's second wife was Ellen Gregory of Guilford, 
Vt., daughter of Stephen Gregory, to whom he was married 
in 1850. There was only one child by this marriage, Arthur 
G. Richardson of Boston. 



STEPHEN HOLMAN 

Stephen Holman, son of Stephen and Hannah (Fuller) Hol- 
man was born in Royalston, December 28, 1820. He attended 



^gO HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

the old Lynn Academy, and was graduated from Williams 
College in 1840, and for a few years did considerable tutoring, 
coaching young men for law courses especially. He taught 
school in Fitchlnirg, Gardner, Athol and Phillipston, Mass. and 
Winchester, N. H. and studied law. He was admitted to the 
bar in Worcester and practised his profession for a short time 
in Fitchburg. 

He became interested in the Lyman Mills, and removed 
to Holyoke, Mass. and engaged in the manufacture of paper. 
In 1865 he bought out the Holyoke Paper Mills, and for the next 
ten years he was noted as the most consistent "boomer" of 
Holyoke as a manufacturing center. Part of his success as a 
manufacturer came through his reduction of the business to 
a scientific basis. He was the first to introduce a scheme of 
accurate cost keeping. Spreading out his business interests 
he established the Holyoke Machine Company, with factories 
in Holyoke and Worcester, and became identified with various 
cotton factories. He w^as an extensive shareholder in the Bell 
Telephone Company. All through his life he followed the 
subjects, which he studied in college, at the age of ninety took 
pleasure in reading in German and French and gave a reading 
in German of Schiller's plays. He was an ardent fisherman 
and traveler, maintained a camp in Maine, and spent the 
summer of 1912 in Europe, returning to his home only a few 
days before his death. He was a fellow of the American Society 
of Civil Engineers and of the National Association of Cotton 
Manufacturers. 

On April 12, 1853, he was married to Miss Henrietta A. Rich- 
ardson of Fitchburg, who died at Worcester on March 25, 1894. 
Their children are: Mrs. William E. Plummer of Swampscott, 
Mass. and Charles Kichardson Holman. 

Mr. Holman died after five days' illness, on October 13, 1912, 
at the home of his daughter in Swampscott, Mass., death being 
caused l)y angina pectoris. 



LIEUT. COLONEL CHARLES CUMMINGS 

Charles Cummings, the oldest of four sons of Joshua and 
Hepsebah (Hale) Cummings, was born in Royalston, Feb. 6, 
1821. The family removed and settled on a farm in Westmin- 



SONS OF ROYALSTON jp/ 

ster, MaSvS. about 1835. The Rev. Henry Cummings, the 
second son, was a prominent Congregational minister for more 
than fifty years; Isaac Cummings was the resident physician of 
the Panama Railroad Company, and Israel, twin brother of the 
last named who was wounded while on picket duty during the 
siege of Knoxville, and died there on the day of the enemy's 
retreat, the first contribution of the family of a life for their 
country. 

Charles Cummings pursued his academical studies at West- 
minster and subsequently commenced the study of medicine 
with Dr. John White of that town, continuing it under 
the care of Dr. Silas Cummings of Fitzwilliam, N. H. He 
attended a course of lectures at Castleton, Vt. and another at 
Woodstock, Vt. His medical diploma bears date of June 16, 
1847, signed l\y Benjamin R. Palmer. Almost immediately 
he began the practice of his profession at Fitzwilliam remaining 
there three years, when he abandoned it as wholly unsuited to 
his taste. In the summer of 1850 he removed to Brattleboro, 
Vt., where he was employed in various ways, chiefly as an 
accountant until 1852 when he with Charles S. Prouty published 
the semi-weekly Eagle for one year, then during 1853 and 1854 
he was united with B. D. Harris in conducting the Brattleboro 
Eagle, and in February 1855 he commenced the publication of the 
Vermont Phoenix, of which he continued proprietor until his 
death. 

His first editorial appeared Feb. 3, 1855 in which he pro- 
nounced himself as, "independent in and not of politics, sym- 
pathizing with the American Party; not absorbed in one idea 
nor disposed to ride any particular hobby." 

On the 27th of June, 1857 he married Miss. Elizabeth B. 
Raynolds of Boston, a highly educated and estimable lady. 
They had two children, a son and a daughter. 

In 1855 he was chosen by the directors Clerk of the Vermont 
State Agricultural Society in which oflace he continued until the 
autumn of 1861. His election as Clerk of the House of Rep- 
resentatives of Vermont at Montpelier in 1858 served to make 
him generally known throughout the State, and his re-election 
at three subsequent sessions show how acceptable were his 
services in that position. In the Civil War he enlisted as a 
private in Company E, Eleventh Vermont Regiment, and was 
chosen First Lieutenant Aug. 14, 1862, but before the regiment 



392 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

left the state he was commissioned Major of the Twelfth Vermont 
Regiment of nine months men. 

He was killed in action at Poplar Grove Church Sept, 30, 
1864. 

His military record w^ill be found in the Military Chapter of 
this book. 

Says one who had the longest acquaintance with him: "I can 
not yet realize that he is taken away, the strong staff is broken. 
He was my companion in the family being the nearest me in 
age; as the elder brother he was the leader. Ever impulsive, his 
impulses were of a generous nature. Gifted with a versatile 
genius he trained his mind antl hand to a large variety of objects, 
and it may be said he touched nothing which he did not adorn. 
As a journalist he probably exerted the widest influence through 
the columns of the Brattleboro Eagle and the Vermont Phoenix 
by selected articles of rare excellence as well as by editorials of 
marked beauty and power." 



THOMAS NORTON HART 

Inscribed on the town records of Royalston is the mar- 
riage Jan. 25, 1821 of Daniel Hart of Reading and Margaret 
Norton of Royalston. She was a daughter of Major John 
Norton, a Revolutionary soldier. The ancestors of Daniel 
Hart had settled in Lynnfield, Mass. 

Thomas Norton Hart, son of Daniel and Margaret (Norton). 
Hart, was born in Reading. Jan. 20, 1829. Although not born 
in Royalston, yet he may be claimed as a son of Royalston, 
by his ancestry and the fact that five years of his young life 
was spent in this town. He received a plain education such 
as the country schools afforded, and when a lad of 13 years 
went to Boston to earn his living. He found employment 
with Wheelock, Pratt & Co., dry goods dealers. 

Two years later in 1844 he was clerk in a hat store and 
subsequently became partner in the firm of Philip A. Locke 
& Co. in Dock Square. 

In 1860 Mr. Locke retired from business and Mr. Hart 
assumed control forming shortly after the well known firm of 
Hart, Taylor & Co., which was highly successful. 



SONS OF ROYALSTON J9J 

Mr. Hart went out of business in 1878 with a competency. 
Soon after he was chosen president of the Mt. Vernon Na- 
tional Bank. 

He was a member of the Boston Common Council from 
1879 to 1881 and of the Board of Alderman in 1882, '85 and 
'86, Mayor of Boston in 1889 and 1890 and again in 1900, 
and 1901. In 1891 he was appointed Postmaster of Boston 
by President Harrison to succeed Gen. Corse. He has been 
Treasurer of the American Unitarian Association, and is a 
member of the Arlington Street Church. All his nominations 
came to him unsought, unbought and unpledged. In politics 
he was always a Republican, but had the support of Demo- 
crats and Independents. 

He married April 30, 1850, Miss Elizabeth Snow of Bow- 
doin. Me. She died Nov. 16, 1906. Their daughter Abbie 
Snow Hart, born Sept. 22, 1851, an only child, is the wife of 
C. W. Ernst, the marriage taking place June 5, 1885. Mr. 
Hart's home is on Commonwealth Avenue and he has a sum- 
mer home in Swampscott. No great calamity has darkened 
this happy home, which has been a blessing to many hearts 
and homes, and received in return the benediction of Heaven. 

While living in Royalston Mr. Hart went to the Centre 
School and attended church, when Rev. Mr. Perkins was -the 
minister. 



GEORGE ELLIS WHITNEY 

George Ellis Whitney, one of Royalston's successful sons 
in the business world, was born at Royalston Jan. 30, 1864. 
He is a son of George and Eliza Jane (Simpson) Whitney 
and was educated in the public schools of Royalston and at 
Bryant & Stratton's Commercial School in Boston. He began 
his active career of a woolen manufacturer when eighteen 
years of age in the woolen mill of his father at South Royal- 
ston. He became superintendent and the business was in- 
corporated in 1890 and on the death of his father Dec. 26, 
1897 he succeeded to the full management of the business as 
President and Treasurer of the Corporation. 

After the destruction of the mill at South Royalston by 
fire in 1892 the company bought a mill in Enfield, N. H., 



394 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

and the business was continued there until it was sold out to 
the American Woolen Co. He then became associated with 
that Company, having charge of the Mills at Enfield and 
Lebanon, N. H. and Winooski, Vt., having his home at En- 
field. Later he removed to Burlington, Vt., and has since 
devoted his time to the Winooski Mills, where two thousand 
hands are employed. 

While in New Hampshire he was prominent in the social 
life of the community, and was active in politics, having bean 
a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives 
for the years 1897 and 1898; a member of the State Senate in 
.1902 and again in 1904. where he was prominent among the 
Republican members of that body. 

He married Minnie Banks Rutter of Chicago, 111., Oct. 20, 
1897. 

He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, being a Knight 
Templar, and a 32nd Degree Miison — in the Ancient Accepted 
Scottish Rites. He is also a Life Member of the Elks. He 
is active in the Club and Social Life of Burlington, and is 
well known as a lover of good horses. He was formerly 
interested in baseball, and when in Royalston had a team, 
which was known in all this section of the country as one of 
the Vjest amateur teams then playing, and some who have 
become great baseball players in the gi eater League Clul)S, 
were members of his teams. 



FREDERIC C. NICHOLS 

Frederic C. Nichols, younger son of Joseph Towne and 
Martha Gale (Turner) Nichols is a well known banker. Born 
in Fitchl)urg he grew up in Royalston and for three years 
was a page in the Massachusetts Legislature. Since 1893 he 
has been connected with the Fitchburg National Bank and 
Fitchburg Savings Bank, and since 1906 has been the Treas- 
urer and Executive of the latter institution, the oldest Bank in 
Fitchburg with resources of about eight million dollars. He 
has been a member of the Fitchburg City Government; is a 
Director and member of the Executive Committee of the 
Fitchljurg Bank & Trust Company; Director of the Fitchburg 
Mutual Fire Insurance Company and has also served as Presi- 





FREDERICK C. NICHOLS 



LEONARD NICHOLS 





GEORGE E. WHITNEY 



ROBERT W. ADAMS 



SONS OF ROYALSTON J95 

dent of the Fitchburg Board of Trade & Merchants Associa- 
tion. He is a Director or Trustee of sundry charitable 
organizations of his native city. In banking circles he is well 
known, having been two years President of the Savings Bank 
Officials Club and three years Treasurer of the Massachusetts 
Bankers Association. No son of Royalston loves the town 
more than "Fred" Nichols and his interest in the town and 
the welfare of its citizens is constantly manifested. 

He officiated as toastmaster at the 150th Anniversary 
celebration, and performed the duties of that position in a 
most graceful and efficient manner, his apt remarks being right 
to the point. 

He married Oct. 5, 1899 Ethel Holmes, daughter of Cap- 
tain Augustus and Hannah M. (Perry) Holmes, in Plainfield, 
New Jersey. They have one daughter, Anna Holmes Nichols 
born in Fitchburg Oct. 24, 1905. 



LEONARD NICHOLS 

Leonard Nichols, eldest son of Joseph T. and Martha (Turner) 
Nichols, was born in Royalston, April 17, 1869. He was educated 
at District No. 1, in Royalston and the Fitchburg High School. 
He was in Bo.ston from 1885 to 1892 in a wholesale furniture 
store, and went to Providence, R. I. in 1892 where he became 
connected with the Providence Journal. In 1894 he was ap- 
pointed Deputy United States Shipping Commissioner of the 
Port of Providerce. In this position his work was so eminently 
satisfactory to Secretary Nagel of the Department of Commerce 
and Labor, and his general record so excellent, that upon the 
retirement of Shipping Commissioner Freeman, Mr, Nichols 
was appointed as United States Shipping Commissioner of the 
Port of Providence, a high Federal office which is closely identi- 
fied with the American merchant marine. Mr. Nichols is a 
frequent visitor to his old home in Royalston, and claims no 
special distinction, save that he owns the only six acres of good 
land in Royalston which is entirely free o" rocks and stones. 



ROBERT WINTHROP ADAMS 

Robert Winthrop Adams was born in Royalston, Mass., Oct. 
27, 1881, son of Dr. Francis Wayland and Fannie Russell 



?9d HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

(Chase) Adams. He attended the public schools of Royalston 
and Cushing Academy, Ashburnham, Mass., from which he was 
graduated in 1900. In 1904 he was graduated from the Worces- 
ter Polytechnic Institute with the degree of Bachelor of Science. 

After graduation he entered the employ of the B. F. Sturtevant 
Company, Hyde Park, Mass., as assistant in the electrical 
department, which position he left in 1905 to become Electrical 
Engineer for the D. & W. Fuse Company, Providence, R. I., 
where he was employed for three years, during which time he was 
engaged principally in research and development work relating to 
enclosed fuses, in recognition of which he was in 1908 awarded the 
advanced degree of Electrical Engineer by the Worcester Poly- 
technic Institute. 

In 1908 Mr. Adams joined the Engineering Department of 
the General Electric Company at Pittsfield, Mass., from which 
he was transferred in 1910 to the sales office of the same concern 
at Boston, Mass. In 1913 he was appointed manager of the 
Providence office of the General Electric Company, in which 
position he is in immediate charge of the interests of the company 
in Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut. 

In 1906 he married Miss Pauline Whitney, daughter of 
Alfred H. and Susie (Davis) Whitney of Ashburnham. They 
have one child, Winthrop Whitney Adams, born Jan. 27, 1909, 
at Pittsfield, Mass. 

He is the author and pubUsher of the Transmission Line 
Calculator, a device for the rapid calculation of electrical prob- 
lems. He is a member of the American Institute of Electrical 
Engineers, National Electric Light Association, New England 
Street Railway Club, Kappa Xi Alpha Fraternity and various 
Masonic Orders. 



EDWIN AUGUSTUS FISHER 

Edwin Augustus Fisher, eldest child of Horace and Lucy 
Jane Fisher, was born at Royalston, July 17, 1847. Attended the 
public schools of the town and a Select School at Royalston 
Center. He also attended New Salem Academy and Powers 
Institute, Bernardston, Mass., and graduated from the West- 
field, Mass., State Normal School in 1870. Taught school in 



SONS OF ROYAI^STON J97 

Royalston Center in 1868-9, and the graded school at Orange, 
Mass., in the fall and winter of 1870 and 1871. 

Early in 1871 he was employed on the construction of the 
Holyoke and Westfield R. R. under Lewis F. Root, Chief Engi- 
neer, first as rodman, and during the same year was promoted to 
Division Engineer. Was engaged in railroad surveys, location 
and construction from 1871 to 1873, in 1873 made surveys, 
plans and estimates for a system of street grades, sewers and 
water works for the town of Westfield, and in 1874 and 1875 was 
engineer in charge of the construction of the water works. 
From 1878 to 1881 was engaged in water works and railroad 
engineering in Western Massachusetts, and in 1881 located a 
portion of the proposed Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western 
R. R. from a point east of Little Falls to west of Utica, N. Y. 
From 1881 to 1889 was Engineer in the construction of railroads 
in New York State, and from September, 1889 to June, 1893, 
Superintendent of the Pittsburg Division of the Western New 
York & Pennsylvania R. R., with office in Oil City, Pa. From 
June, 1893 to June, 1896 was principal assistant Engineer in 
charge of the construction of an additional water supply for the 
city of Rochester, N. Y., and in June, 1896 was appointed City 
Engineer of Rochester, and has held the position to the present 
time. Since its creation in 1901 he has been a member and 
secretary of the Public Market Commission. He is a member 
of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American 
Water Works Association, the New England Water Works 
Association, member and Past President of the American Society 
of Municipal Improvements, member and Past President of the 
Rochester Engineering Society, member of the Rochester 
Chamber of Commerce and member of Cyrene Commandery, 
Knight Templars. 

On the 17th of February, 1875, Mr. Fisher married Miss 
Ellen F. Brakenridge of Ware, Mass., and they have six children, 
all living in Rochester, — Lewis Gates, a civil engineer; Julia 
Kendall, now the wife of Rev. Arthur Clements; Florence May, 
married Robert A. Copeland; Edwin Horace, a graduate of 
Cornell University; William Brackenridge and Fanny Bradford. 



ARTHUR A. UPHAM 

Arthur A. Upham, son of Benjamin W. and Phebe (Tenney) 
Upham, was born in Royalston Oct. 1, 1853. He graduated 



^gg HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

from the Westfield Normal School in 1880, after which he 
taught eight years in the Hitchcock Free High School, Brimfiekl, 
]\Iass., four years as Principal. In 1888 he became teacher of 
Science in the Whitewater, Wisconsin State Normal School, 
which position he still occupies. 

He has been a member of the State Board of Examiners, and 
has been Mayor of Whitewater. Is a member of the Modern 
Woodmen of America and is Past Master of St. John's Lodge No. 
57 F. & A. M. He is the author of three books, ''Fifty Lessons 
in Wood Working" — "Frank and Kate: How they found out" 
and "An Introduction to Agriculture." 

He married Mary F. Woods Aug. 19, 1880, who was born 
July 2, 1857. They have two daughters, Emily Woods, born 
July 22, 1881, married Edward F. Dithmar, Feb. 5, 1910, lives in 
Baraboo, Wis., the second daughter, Ethel Tenney was born 
May 20, 1885. 



JOHN V. HAZEN 

John Vose Hazen, son of Rev. Norman Hazen, pastor of the 
Royalston Congregational Church from 1847 to 1852, was born 
in Royalston, Nov. 22, 1850. Soon after the death of his father 
in 1852 he went with his mother to her old home in Atkinson, 
N. H., and in the Academy in that place received his preparatory 
education. In the fall of 1872 he entered what was then the 
Scientific Department of Dartmouth College, graduating there- 
from in the spring of 1875 with the degree of B.S. The next fall 
he entered the Thayer School of Civil Engineering also connected 
with the college and graduated from the latter in the spring 
of 1876, receiving the degree of C.E. In the fall of 1876 he 
was employed as a rodman on the Manchester and Keene, R. R. 
In about three months the road suspended operations and he 
returned home. Later in that year he went back to the same 
locality as rodman and became principal of the Hancock, N. H., 
High School. In 1877 he was employed as draughtsman on 
bridge design work. In the fall of that year he was offered and 
accepted the position of principal of Atkinson Academy in his 
old home town. In the fall of 1878 he was offered the position 
of Tutor of Mathematics in the Scientific Department of Dart- 
mouth College, which he accepted, and has filled various positions 



SONS OF ROYALSTON J99 

in the college to the present time. The positions that he has held 
in that institution are as follows: from 1878 to 1880 Tutor of 
Mathematics, 1880 to 1893 Professor of Theoretical and Applied 
Mechanics, 1893 to the present time Woodman Professor of Civil 
Engineering and Graphics in Dartmouth College and Associate 
Professor of Civil Engineering in the Thayer School of Civil 
Engineering. He has done considerable work on water power 
and railroad surveys in Vermont and New Hampshire, and has 
been employed many times as an expert on court cases. From 
1900 to 1910 he was chairman of the Commissioners of the 
Village Precinct of Hanover and as such had special charge of the 
re-construction of the streets and sewers of the village and also 
acted as health officer. He is a member of the American Society 
of Civil Engineers, and for the last fifteen years has been a 
member of the Board of Education of Hanover. He was 
married to Harriet Augusta Hurlbutt July 20, 1881. They have 
four children: Ethel Augusta, born Dec. 11, 1882; Fanny Vose 
born April 1, 1887; John Norman, born Jan. 14, 1894 and Ed- 
ward Elihu, born March 14, 1896. The oldest daughter gradu- 
ated from Smith College in 1904 and married Walter Huston 
Lillard, a teacher in Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. The 
second daughter graduated from Smith College in 1910. The 
sons are in college and school. 



JOHN B. BOWKER 

John B. Bowker, son of Charles Watson and Nancy (Sibley) 
Bowker, was born in Royalston, Mar. 12, 1865. He received 
his education in the schools of Royalston and Worcester. 
He engaged in farming, and was elected Secretary and Treas- 
urer of the Worcester Agricultural Society in Nov. 1892, 
which position he held until he resigned after being elected 
City Auditor of Worcester June 6, 1898. He resigned as 
auditor March, 1905 to become Business Manager of the 
Worcester Telegram, which position he now holds. 

He has been actively interested in various agricultural 
organizations, was secretary and treasurer of the Central 
Mass, Poultry Association for two years, 1901 and 1902, Sec- 
retary of Worcester Central Pomona Grange in 1903, and 
secretary of the New England Milk Producers Union, 1897 



4-00 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

and 1898 when its membership went from three hundred to 
thirty-six hundred. 

He married Martha A. Thayer of Worcester and they 
have two children, Marion T. Bowker and Harold S. Bowker. 



JENNER E. MORSE 

Jenner E. Morse, son of Russell Morse, Jr., was born at 
Royalston, Nov. 29, 1859, and continued to live in this town 
until after the death of his mother, when he went to St. Johns- 
bury, Vt., and entered St. Johnsbury Academy for the purpose 
of fitting himself to enter Dartmouth College ; but after grad- 
uating from the Academy he changed his plans and instead of 
entering college, went to Westboro, Mass., and entered a law 
office, where he remained about a year and a half, when he 
went to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and entered 
the law department. The following Spring he was admitted to 
the bar by the Supreme Court of Michigan. Later the same 
Spring, after the Spring Semester, he returned to Westboro and 
continued his law reading during the summer vacation, return- 
ing to Ann Arbor upon the opening of the University in the 
Fall, where he continued his studies and graduated in the class 
of 1883, with the degree of B. L. After graduating he went to 
Saginaw, Mich., where he has since continued to reside and 
practice his profession. 

He has been active in politics and public affairs. Has been 
a member of the School Board of that city several times and 
was twice elected Circuit Court Commissioner of Saginaw 
County. In 1908, he received the nomination for Congress in 
the Eighth Congressional District of Michigan, but was de- 
feated at the polls. He was President of the Michigan Bee- 
keepers Association for two years, is a member of the Saginaw 
Board of Trade, which was one of the first associations instru- 
mental in bringing about the present United States Chamber of 
Commerce, and is also a member of the Saginaw County Bar 
Association and of several lodges and clubs. He has never 
married. 



CHAPTER XVI 
ROYALSTON'S SOLDIER RECORD 

Compiled a/id written by F/rd IV- Cross 

OUR SOLDIER STOCK 

One can hardly approach the duty of recording the miH- 
tary history of a town Hke Royalston without being deeply 
impressed with the sanctity of the task. That this small 
town should have furnished nearly 100 men in the War for 
Independence, a whole company for the defence of our coast 
in the second war with Great Britain, and 138 soldiers in the 
great struggle that kept the Union whole is sufficient evidence 
of the patriotic spirit which has ever characterized its citizens. 
Moreover, it must be remembered that when the Revolution 
broke cut the tcwn's population was small, that the town had 
been settled only thirteen years and incorporated less than 
ten. But among its earliest settlers were men of sterling 
stock. 

John Fry from Sutton, Mass., who settled on Fry Hill 
where his great grandson Benj. A. Fry now resides, had been 
an officer in the French Wars, In 1745, twenty years before 
he came to Royalston, he served as first lieutenant in King 
George's War, taking part in the expedition which reduced the 
French fortress of Louisburg on Cape Breton Island and brought 
it under the English flag. Ten years later, in 1755, he held 
a royal commission as captain and took part in Sir William 
Johnson's expedition against Crown Point, which ended in 
September of that year, in the so-called "Bloody Morning 
Scout" and the Battle of Lake George. 

Captain Peter Woodbury, who also came from Sutton 
and settled where Emery Holden now resides, sprung from 
military ancestry, and his later ability as a soldier is psroven 
by the fact that he was honored by being successively given 
the command of three separate companies in the War for In- 
dependence. 

Captain Jonathan Sibley, who settled on Gale Hill, also 
came of soldier stock, his father, Ensign Jonathan Sibley, 



402 HISTORY OF KOYALSTOK 

being a member of one of the strongest and most prolific Suttorr 
families, as is shown by the vital records of that town. 



THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD 

Royalston's mihtary histoiy as a town dates from the 
beginning of the War for Independence. It is unnecessary 
to here recount the causes and events which led to that conflict. 
Sufficient is it to say, that by the autumn of 1774, the people 
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony had become so exasperated 
by the recent acts of Parliament, especially the so-called Reg- 
ulating Act which virtually annulled their charter and ma- 
terially altered the government of the colony, that they stood 
ready for open and armed resistance. In defiance of the royal 
governor's order proroguing the General Court, which had 
been summoned to meet at Salem in October, about 90 rep- 
resentatives did meet and resolved themselves into a Pro- 
vincial Congress, choosing John Hancock as chainnan. The}^ 
then adjourned to Concord, where they would be safer from 
the governor's interference. Among the members of this first 
Provincial Congress of the Bay Colony was * Henry Bond of 
Royalston, who resided on wdiat was later known as the William 
Eddy place, the house originally standing on an old road run- 
ning southeast from Joseph Chase's and near the line of the 
present steel towers of the Connecticut River Transmission 
Company. 

The Congress of which Henry Bond was a member sat 
from October until December, 1774. It appointed a com- 
mittee consisting of sixteen persons with Joseph Warren as 
chairman "to take into consideration the state of the Prov- 
ince," and to supervise th(^ duty of collecting mihtary stores. 
They also directed that the taxes levied by the last General 
Court should not be paid to the Treasurer of the Province 
l)ut to Receivers authorized by the several towns and districts. 

On February 1, 1775, a second Provincial Congress as- 
semlded at Camljridge, later holding adjourned sessions at 
Concord and Watertown. As her representative to this body, 

*Henry Bond was later a iiifinber of Lieut. Jonathan Sibley's detachment and marched 
to Bennington on the August alarm, 1777, 



THE REVDLLTTIONARY PERIOD 403 

Eoyalston sent \ 'Nullum (rreew, whose home was on the old 
road in the valley west of the late John W. Stockwell's. This 
Congress established a permanent committee of safety with 
large military powers, provided for a complete organization 
of the militia, emljodied a force of minute men comprising one- 
fourth of the military strength of the colony, appointed three 
veterans of the French Wars, Jedediah Preble, Artemas Ward, 
and Seth Pomeroy, to chief command, and resolved on the 
purchase of military stores to the amount of upwards of twenty 
thousand pounds. This body dissolved the 29th of May, 
having continued its deliberations nearly four months. Mr. 
Green survived its final adjournment exactly two months, 
<lying at his Royalston home of smallpox, July 29. 

A year after the war opened a local committee of safety 
Avas established in Royalston and continued and maintained 
until the close of the Revolution. In 1778, £^^ were raised 
for bounties, and the selectmen were charged with the duty of 
collecting arms and ammunition for the soldiers. In 1779, 
£42 were voted to every citizen who was in the service two 
years before. In 1780, further large sums were raised to pur- 
chase food and clothing for the army. Finally in 1781, when 
the Continental currency had become almost worthless the 
town raised £1000 in Spanish milled dollars with which to hire 
.soldiers, and promised to each of her citizens who should be 
in the service at the end of three years "ten cows, heifers three 
years old with calf or with calves by their sides." These acts 
bespeak the patriotic spirit of the town as a whole. 

But we are interested chiefly in the town's individual soldiers 
and in the length and character of their service. In exam- 
ining the records of Revolutionary soldiers one is naturally 
surprised at the briefness of the terms of service of many of 



fAccording to local tradition Nahum CJreen went from the second Provincial Congress 
into the Continental Army assembled at Cambridge. Here he is said to have contracted 
the smallpox of which he died in the midsummer of 1775 at his home in Royalston. His 
grave is located in the pasture or sprout land north of the old road and a short half mile north- 
west of the home where he died, and is marked by a substantial granite monument. But as 
to the manner in which he contracted the fatal disease the traditions differ. One story com- 
monly reported was that the disease first appeared at the Dye. place a mile or more south of 
Green's, and that it was brought to him by a big, shaggy dog that had been fondled by the 
convalescents at the Dyer place, and used to travel frequently from one farm to the other. 
Every citizen of Royalston would be glad to know for a certainty that the military traditions 
concerning Mr. Cireen were true, but no record of his name or military service can be found 
among the Massachusetts archives. 



40-1- 



H I STORY OF ROY ALSTON 



them, but this is accounted for by the fact that many belonged 
to local militia companies and were only called out in times of 
especial danger. We find many such from our own town who 
served only from 7 to 40 days as was the case with those who 
marched to Cambridge in response to the Lexington alarm. 
Others served 10 days, notably those who marched to Benning- 
ton to reinforce General Stark. Not infrequently we find 
a man credited with several such short terms of service which 
in the aggregate make up cjuite a military record. 

The first organized body of troops that ever left Royalston 
for service in war was the company of minute men commanded 
by Capt. Jonas Allen which marched on the alarm of April 
19, 1775. Captain Allen at the outbreak of hostiUties resided 
with his father on the place now occupied by the widow and 
children of the late Joseph F. Stockwell, ajjout a mile east of 
the Common on the road to Winchendon. The name, rank, 
and length of service of each of the twenty-four men who consti- 
tuted Captain Allen's company is given below. They formed 
a part of the regiment of Col.'Ephraim Doolittle. 



Names 


Rank 


Service 


Jonas Allen 


Captain 


1 mo. 4 days 


Daniel Pike 


Lieutenant 


1 mo. 11 " 


-Abiel Richardson 


Sergeant 


1 " \ " 


James Works 


(( 


123^" 


Isaac Nichols 


; i. 


7 " 


William Dike 


u 


7 " 


Thomas Chaml^erlain 


Corporal 


103^" 


Abijah Clarke 


1 i 


101^" 


Bezaleel Barton, Jr. 


Private 


7 " 


Ebenezer Fry 


a 


223^- 


Josiah Goodale 


ii 


7 " 


Uzziah Green 


a 


7 " 


James Haven 


11 


103^'' 


Joshua Hemmingway 


(I 


7 " 


Thomas Hemmingway 


a 


19 3/2" 


Jonathan Hutchinson 


(I 


103^'' 


Jonathan Jacoljs 


It 


7 " 


John Kendall 


ii 


7 " 


Jesse Manley 


ti 


123^" 


Daniel Moody 


(C 


123^" 


Abijah Richardson 


u 


22H" 


Joseph Wait 


K 


7 " 


Nathan Wheeler, Jr. 


ii 


7 " 


Peter Woodbury, 2nd 


ii 


7 " 



THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD 



405 



After the excitement following the Lexington alarm had 
subsided about one-half of Captain Allen's company returned 
to their homes. Thirteen men, however, enlisted in Capt. 
Abel Wilder's company of Col. Ephraim Doolittle's regiment, 
Captain Allen himself being one of their number. In Captain 
Wilder's company he was given the rank of lieutenant. These 
saw service during the siege of Boston. In all we find on 
record, the names of twenty-one men from Royalston who 
served in the American Army during this siege. The alpha- 
l^etical list giving rank, company, and regiment is here inserted. 
Those who enlisted from Captain Allen's company are marked 
with an asterisk (*). 



Name 

*Lieut. Jonas Allen 
Bezaleal Barton 

*Bszaleal Barton, Jr. 
Jonathan Barton 
Ssrgt. Thomas B3el 
Carp. William Clemsnt 

*Sergt. ^^'ilham Dike 

*Josiah Goodale 
Irijah Green 

*Uzziah Green 

*Joshua Hemmingway 

*Jonathan Jacobs 

*John Kendall 

*Sergt. Isaac Nichols 
John Norton 

*Ens. Daniel Pike 

*Joseph Waite 
Amos Wh33ler, 3d 
Ens. Nathan Wheeler 

*Corp. Nathan Wheeler, Jr 

*Peter Wood])urv, 2d 



Company Regiment 

Capt. Abel Wilder's Col. Ephraim Doolittle's 



Capt. Gleason's Col. John Nixon's 

Capt. Jona. Holman's Col. Ejihraim Doolittle's 
Capt. Abel Wilder's 



Capt. Winship's 
Capt. Jos. Butler's 
Capt. Abel Wilder's 



Lt.-Col. Tho5. Nixia's 

Col. John Nixon's 

Col. Ephraim Doolittle's 



The records tell us that 300 men or about 90 per cent tf 
Col. Do'olittle's regiment commanded by Maj. Willard Moore 
of Paxton, Col. Doolittle himself being absent, were present 
at the battle of Bunker Hill. As Maj. Moore was himself 
mortally wounded we may well believe that the regiment was 
hotly engaged and that a number of Royalston men had a 
part in that memorable conflict. Two weeks after this engage- 
ment Gen. George Washington arrived and assumed command 
of the besieging army. He immediately organized it into 



406 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

three grand divisions or wings, each wing consisting of two 
brigades of about six regiments each. The right wing was com- 
manded by Maj.-Gen. Artemas Ward and was stationed at 
Roxbury; the centre under Maj.-Gen. Israel Putnam lay at 
Cambridge; while the left under the command of Maj.-Gen. 
Charles Lee occupied Prospect and Winter Hills within the 
present limits of the city of Somerville. It was to the left 
wing that Col. Doolittle's regiment was assigned, forming 
a part of the brigade of Gen. Sullivan. This l^-igade was posted 
on Winter Hill. 

Here we may believe that during the summer and fall of 
1775, our Royalston soldiers were kept busy with the musket 
and the spade. Collisions were of frequent occurrence along 
the picket lines, and the fortification of Winter Hill was being 
pushed with great vigor. To Gen. Sullivan's command in the 
latter part of August was assigned an especially hazardous 
and important duty, that of seizing and fortifying Ploughed 
Hill, later known as Mt. Benedict, which was situated a half 
mile east of Winter Hill, close to Charlestown Neck and within 
easy cannon shot of Bunker Hill. These facts enable us to 
determine with a considerable degree of certainty where our 
Royalston soldiers served during the first eventful year of the 
War for Independence. 

In the summer of 1915, when the writer visited this sec- 
tion a very small fragment of the American works on Winter 
Hill was still discernible, and the house used as a headquarters 
by Gen. Lee is still standing in well preserved condition near 
the south easterly base of the hill on Sycamore St. Ploughed 
Hill has been almost entirely removed and the spot where 
it stood is being rapidly built up as a residential section. 

In the siege of Boston there is positive record of only one 
Royalston soldier who lost his life. Bezaleal Barton, who 
enhsted on the 26th of April, 1775 in Capt. Wilder 's company 
of Col. Doolittle's regiment is reported as having died July 
12, whether from wounds or disease we are left uninformed. 
He was a farm.er and miller residing on the farm later owned 
by Col. Willard Newton a short half mile north west of Phineas 
Newton's and having a grist mill on Lawrence Brook in the 
valley west of his house. 

In August, 1777, another organized body of men left Royal- 
fton in response to the Bennington alarm. They formed 



THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD 407 

what was known as Lieut. Jonathan Sibley's detachment 
of Col. Nathan Sparhawk's regiment, and their term of service 
was 10 days including 5 days (105 miles) travel home. As 
they did not leave town until August 21st, while the battle of 
Bennington had been fought on the 16th resulting in the cap- 
ture or destruction of almost the entire Hessian force, our 
Royalston soldiers arrived too late to be of any positive service. 
A complete list of the men composing this detachment is given 
lielo w : 

Lieut. Jonathan Sibley Priv. Ebenezer Elliot 

" Francis Chase " Josiah Goodale 

Sergt. Henry Bond " Henry Poor 

" David Bullock " Abijah Richardson 

Corp. Joseph Waite '' Thaddeus Stockwell 

" Ebenezer Fry " James Thomson 

Priv. Thomas Beel '' Jonas Thomson 

" Bezaleal Barton, Jr. " Lenox Titus 

" Jonas Brewer " John Whitmore 

Although not called upon to face the bullets of the enemy, 
the sufferings of these men in their long and toilsome march 
under a scorching August sun can only be imagined. Re- 
turning on the last day of the month, they had in ten days 
marched a total of 210 miles, an average of 21 miles a day. 

Li 1781, Lieutenant Sibley as a captain, commanded a com- 
pany in Col. Luke Drury's regiment during the closing months 
of the war. 

Perhaps the most important militia company that existed 
in this town during the Revolutionary period was Capt. 
Peter Woodbury's 9th (Royalston) company of Col. Nathan 
Sparhawk's 7th (Worcester County) regiment. Peter Wood- 
bury was commissioned captain of this company April 5, 1776, 
but there is no list or roll of its members in the archives of 
the State. In searching the records of individual soldiers we 
have found the names of ten men who were enlisted from this 
company into the regular Continental Army in 1777 or 1778. 
Most of them were assigned to Capt. Adam Wheeler's com- 
pany of Col. Thomas Nixon's regiment, and seven enlisted 
for three years or during the war. Their names are as follows : 



^Qg HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

jSfame Company Regiment Term 

Jonathan Barton Capt. A.lam Wheeler's CoL Thos. Nixon's, 3 yrs- 

David Copland 

Silas Cutting << u . .,0 

Irijah Green, 1st "^ ''_ ''_ ''^ ''_ ^^ ^ yrs. 

8eraiah Green 

John Jacobs During 

Jonathan Jacobs _ __ __ ^^ the war 

John Moody '' '' '' '' '' '' ^ y[^- 

Benajah Woodbury ',' " " '^'^ '^_ ^^ ^^ 

Isaac Nichols . Cojit. Jabez Lane's 

Messrs. Cutting and Nichols died in the service of their 

country. 

John Norton and Stephen Richardson also enlisted from 
Captain Woodbury's company of Royalston militia into the 
Continental Army, May 19, 1778, each to serve nine months, 
but their company and regiment in the regular service is not 

given. 

In Captain Wheeler's company of Colonel Nixon's regiment, 
we find also the names of Ames Wheeler, 1st, a private, Nathan 
Wheeler, Jr., a corporal, and Nathan Wheeler (Sr.), a lieu- 
tenant, all of whom came from Royalston and each of whom 
h ad a long and honorable record as a soldier, but we cannot 
find that they were ever members of Captain Woodbury's 
company. * 

It may readily be surmised that there was some connection 
between Captain W^oodbury's company and Lieutenant Sib- 
ley's detachment that marched to Bennington; first, because 
both belonged to Col. Nathan Sparkhawk's regiment, second, 
because Jonathan Sibley and Francis Chase were originally 
commissioned first and second lieutenants respectively in 
Captain Woodbury's Royalston company and on the same day 
on which he received his own commission, April 5, 1776. The 
very fact of Lieutenant Sibley's having led the detachment 
to Bennington may be explained on the ground of the cap- 
tain's absence, for on July 28, 1777, Captain Woodbury had 
himself started for Bennington in temporary command of 
the Petersham company of Col. Job Cushing's regiment. 

Accompanying Captain Woodbury on this expedition 
were three other Royalston men; Aaron Bliss, Hugh Bullock, 
and Peter Woodbury, 2nd. As the Petersham company marched 
nineteen days before the engagement at Bennington, it may 



THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD 409 

be believed that these men had a part in the stirring events 
of that glorious 16th of August. 

The year following the battle of Bennington, Captain 
Woodbury commanded a company in Col. Jacob Gerrish's 
regiment of guards, serving from July to November, 1778. 
This is often referred to as the Lancaster company. 

Eight Royalston men: Ezra Barton, John Davis, Jr., Nath- 
aniel Jacobs, John Norton, Benjamin Perry, Eliphalet Rich- 
ardson, John Stockwell, and Jonathan Woodbury are known 
to have enlisted in Colonel Grout's regiment early in July, 
1779, most of them to serve nine months, though Stockwell 
enrolled for three years. Seven, including two of the above, 
served three months during the summer and early fall of 1780 
in Capt. Ephraim Steam's company of Col. John Rand's regi- 
ment. These were Benjamin Barton, Obadiah Beale, David 
Copland, Squier Davis, Nathaniel Jacobs, Corp. Eliphalet 
Richardson and Joel Stockwell. 

Five served in the colonel's company of Col. Thos. Nixon's 
(Cth) Eegiment iii 1779 and '80, viz. Jonathan Barton, Irijah 
Green, 1st, Irijah Green, 2nd, William Richardson and Amos 
Wheeler 1st. 

The service of the rest of Royalston's soldiers was more 
scattered and the place and length of that service can best be 
determined by consulting the alphabetical lists of Massa- 
chusetts soldiers and sailors published by the State in seventeen 
large volumes and donated to every public library in the Com- 
monwealth. A fullset is on the shelves of the Phineas S. New- 
ton Public Library. 

Mcst of cur soldiers had honorable records. Several, not- 
ably Jonathan Barton, Obadiah Beale, Jonathan Gale, Irijah 
Green 1st, Seraiah Green, Jonathan Jacobs, John Moody, 
lieut. Iseac Nickels, John Nichols, John Norton, Joshua Peck, 
Benjamin Ferry, John Stockwell, Lieut. Nathan W^heeler, 
Nathan Wheeler, Jr., Benajah Woodbury, Jonathan W^oodbury, 
and Capt. Peter Woodbury, saw long and arduous service. 

Below will be found an alphabetical list of Royalston's 
soldiers in the W^ar for Inc.epenc'.ence. It is not assumed that 
the list is complete, but it represents much painstaking effort 
and is at least some improvement on those which have here- 
tofore existed. 



410 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 



The author has here included the name of Nahura Green 
not being wilHng to do any possible injustice to a brave and 
patriotic man, though there is no positive record of his mili- 
tary service. 

The rank attached to names in this list is that which the 
individual actually held in the Revolutionaiy army, and none 
lower than that of lieutenant is given. 



Lieut. Jonas Allen 
Timothy Armstrong- 
Benjamin Barton 
Bezaleal Barton. D. 
Bezaleal Barton, Jr. 
Ezra Barton 
Jonathan Barton 
Peter Barton 
Samuel Barton 
Obadiah Beale 
Thomas Beel 
Aaron Bliss 
Henry Bond 
Jonas Brewer 
David Bullock 
Hugh Bullock 
Ebenezer Burbank 
Thomas Chamljerlain 
Lieut. Francis Chase 
Rogers Chase 
Silas Chase 
Abijah Clarke 
WiUiam Clement 
David Copland 
Ebenezer Cutler 
Silas Cutting. D. 
John Davis, Jr. 
Squier Davis 
Sylvester Davis 
WiUiam Dike 
Ebenezer Elliot 
Jabez Fisher 
Ebenezer Frv 



Jonathan Gale 
Peter Gale 
Josiah Goodall 
Irijah Green, 1st. 
Irijah Green, 2nd. 
Nahum Green 
Seraiah Green 
LTzziah Green 
James Haven 
Joshua Hemmingway 
Thomas Hemmingway 
Jonathan Hutchinson. 
John Jacobs 
Jonathan Jacobs 
Nathan Jacobs 
Nathaniel Jacobs 
John Kendall 
Lemuel Lewis 
William Lews 
Jesse Manley 
Daniel Moody 
John Moody 
Lieut. Isaac Nichols. 
Isaac Nichols, Jr. D. 
John Nichols 
John Morton 
Hiram Peck 
Joshua Peck 
Benjamin Perry 
Charles Pierce 
Lieut. Daniel Pike 
Henry Poor 
Abiel Richardson 



D. 



THE liEVOIAITIONARY PERIOD 



411 



Abijah Richardson 
Eliphalct Richardson 
Stephen Richardson 
William Ricliardson 
'Capt. Jonathan Sibfey 
Joel Stockwell 
John Stockwell 
Levi Stockwell 
Thaddeus Stockwill 
James Thomson 
Jonas Thomson 
Lenox Titus 
Joseph Waite 
Nathaniel Waite 
Moses Walker, 1st 

D. Died in the service, 
d. Became deranged. 



Moses Walker, 2nd 
Amos Wheeler, 1st 
Amos Wheeler, 2nd 
Amos Wheeler, 3rd 
Lieut. Nathan Wheeler, 
Nathan Wheeler, Jr. 
John Whit more 
John Whitmore, Jr. 
Benajah Woodbury 
Jonathan Woodbury 
Lot Woodbury 
Capt. Peter Woodl)ury 
Peter Woodbury, 2nd 
James Work 



Many Revolutionary soldiers fornxrly supposed to have 
served on Royalston's quota really moved into town after their 
army service was completed. A list of twenty-five of the l^est 
known of these together with the names of the towns from 
Avhich they are supposed to have come is here given. 

The rank attached to several per-::ons in this list is that by 
which they were commonly known after the war. It is usually 
higher than any that they ever actually held in the army. 



Maj. John Bacheller 
Nathan Bliss 
vSanuiel W. Bowker 
William Brown 
Benjamin Clark 
David Cook 
Lieut. John Davis 
John Ellis 
Joseph Emerson 
Ammi Falkner 
Caleb Felch 
Nathan Felch 
Samuel Feleh 
Samuel Felch, Jr. 
Silas Foster 



from 



Reading 
Rehoboth 
Rutland District 
Reading 
Abington 

Rehoboth 

Reading 

Reading 
Reading 

ti 
Acton 



412 HISTORY OF ROYALSTOX 

Lieut. Micah French from Athol 

Lieut. Edward Holman " Sutton 

*Benjgmin Leathe " Reading 

Col. Ebenezer Newell " Brookfield 

Nathan B. Newton " Southborough 

— Perham " 

Josiah Waite " Athol 

Jonathan WelHngton " 

Capt. Enoch Whit more " Acton 

A full account of the service of each soldier^ as far as it is 
recorded, will be found at the library in the volumes before 
referred to "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War 
of the Revolution." 

After the war closed in 1783, there must have been at least 
125 veterans of the conflict residing within the limits of this 
township. Their homes were scattered in various localities, 
most of them residing in the northerly and westerly parts of 
the town. Some removed later to more favorable localities, 
but the majority died here and lie buried in our own home soil. 
It is to be greatly regretted that more of their resting places 
are not known and properly marked. 

Of the four citizens of Royalstcn known to have died in 
the service Bezaleal Barton lived as has been said on the Col. 
Willard Newton place. Silas Cuttirg resided on the old Had- 
ley farm north of Stone's Mills, Jonathan Hutchinson on what 
is now the F. H. Goddard place, and Isaac Nichols Jr. on the 
Francis Chase fann on the road to South Royalston. Nichols 
was claimed to have been the first child bom in town. If this 
is true he could not have been over 14 or 15 j^ears of age at th3 
time of his death. 



SHAY'S INSURRECTION 

Following close on the Revolution cam3 Shay's Rebellion 
essentially a W^orcester county movement, although partici- 
pated in by citizens of Middlesex, Hampden, Hampshire, 
Berkshire, and other counties. This insurrection was caused 
primarily by the burden of private debts which had been in- 

*Said to have been a nipmber of th? Bwton Tea Party. 



shay's rebellion 413 

curred during the Revolution, and the drastic maasures of the 
creditor class and the court"^ in collecting thDss debts. Th3 
private debts owed by citizens of Massachusetts in 1785 are 
estimated at $7,000,000; while the arrears of taxes due from the 
state to the central government was $7,000,000 more. The 
aggregate of annual public expenses at this time amounted 
to nearly $50 for every man, womin, and child in the state. 
This condition of affairs bore with e3pe3ial severity on the agri- 
cultural communities where money was least plentiful. Here 
homesteads were being sold under foreclosure, cattle were being 
seized in distrainer, and the poor debtor himself often lodged 
in jail. 

By midsummer 1785, the indignation of the farmers against 
the lawyers and judges of the courts, whom they regarded as 
their natural enemies, drove them into open revolt. This 
revolt under such leaders as Shays, Day, Wheeler, and Parsons 
continued throughout the fall and winter, but finally collapsed 
in February, 1787, after the defeat of Shays at Springfield, 
January 25th and the final dispersion of his command at Peter- 
sham ten days later. Those of his men who escaped capture 
at Petersham fled, many of them in a northerly dire3tion through 
Athol and West Royalston, anxious to get beyond the confines 
fo the state. Our Royalston people largely sympathized with 
the insurgents and extended to these fugitives a generous 
if covert hospitality, but there is no record of any of our citi- 
zens having taken an active part in the insurrection. 



THE WAR OF 1812 

Over forty years elapsed after the Revolution closed before 
Royalston's citizens were again called upon to take up arms 
against a foreign foe. Not until the midsummsr of 1811, 
when our second war with England had been two years in 
progress, did an organized body of troops leave this town. It 
is almost needless to state that the Warof 1812 "was decidedly 
unpopular throughout New England. It had been begun on 
what the states of this section considered an insufficient pretext. 
The nation had been forced into it by Clay, Calhoun, and other 
representatives of the west and south, sections that had least 
to lose by it and which could contribute least in men or money 



^l^ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

for its prosecution. The commercial states of the north- 
eastern seaboard had infinitely more at -stake than their south- 
ern neighbors. As an immediate result of the war they saw 
their chief industry crippled, their ships rotting at their wharves, 
their coasts threatened and frequently ravaged, and their 
fisheries for the time destroyed. Hence if the action, notably 
of Massachusetts and Connecticut, in refusing to respond to 
the call of the President and furnish troops for the prosecution 
of the conflict, cannot be commended, it is at least not to be 
greatly wondered at. 

But measures were taken within these states for the pro- 
tection of their own coasts and frontiers, should they be threat- 
ened with attack. Among the independent militia companies 
formed at this time were the Royalston Grenadiers, and in 
August, 1 8 14, when a British army of 12,000 men was about 
to invade northeru New York, supported by a fleet on Lake 
Champlain, and while Admiral Cockburn and General Ross were 
advancing on our national capital this company was summoned 
to Boston. 

What caused especial anxiety, in Massachusetts at this time 
was the fact that a hostile fleet had already entered the mouth 
of the Connecticut on a plundering expedition, and was still 
believed to be hovering off the New England coast. The orders 
for the Grenadiers to march came Saturday evening, August 9, 
and were promptly responded to. The entire company of 45 
officers and men assembled on the following morning at the 
old meeting house on the Common, attended divine worship, 
listened to an appropriate sermon by Rev. Joseph Lee, and 
some with solemn, some with jubilant hearts set out on their 
eighty-mile march to the capital city of the Commonwealth. 
But no hostile force appeared off the Massachusetts coast, and 
in other sections of our country conditions soon grew more 
hopeful. True, Washington had been captured and the govern- 
ment buildings sacked and burned; but on September 11 the 
British fleet on Lake Champlain was defeated and captured 
by young Commodore McDonough, and on the following day 
and night Admiral Cockburn's fleet was repulsed in an attack 
on Fort McHenry the main defence of Baltimore, Md. Hence, 
after about five weeks of service our Royalston Grenadiers were 
honorably discharged and sent home, some to regret to their 
dying day, it is said, the "disgrace" that they ai' (^ame home 



THE WAR OF l8l2 



415 



alive. The company was continued with its periodical train 
ings and musters until the latter 40's or early 50's and its roll 
includes the names of many of our most virile and public-spirited 
citizens. Below is the list of its members in 1814 when it marched 
to Boston: 

Officers 

Capt. Benjamin Brown 
lyieut. Benotii Peck 
Ensign Willard Newton 
Sergt. Isaac Gale, 2nd 

" Elmer Newton 

" Josiah Walker 

" Alanson White 
Corp. Thomas Norton 

" David Thurston 

'' Moses Tyler 

" Josiah Wheeler 
Musicians: 

Edson Clark 

Silas Metcalf 

James Peirce 

Joseph Peirce 

Silas Peirce 
Frivates: 

Luke Bemis 

Nathan Bemis 

Jonas Brewer, Jr. 

John Chamberlain, Jr. 

William Chase, Jr. 



John Dexter 
Elias Emerson 
Chauncy Forbush 
Moses Garfield 
Nathaniel Goddard 
John Hill 

Benjamin Leathe, Jr. 
Hiram Lewis 
Russell Morse 
Chandler Peabody 
Chauncy Peck 
John Prescott 
Stephen Richardson 
Thomas Rogers 
Isaac Stockwell 
Jonathan Stockwell 
Joseph Stockwell 
Reuben Stockwell 
Simeon Stockwell 
Tarrant Stockwell 
Asa Walker 
John B. Walker 
Nathaniel Wilson 



The above list is found on page 93 of Massachusetts Vol- 
unteer Militia in the War of 1812, a work compiled by John 
Baker, custodian of the mihtary archives of the Commonwealth 
and published in 1913. It corresponds quite closely to the one 
given on page 164 of the Royalston Memorial. 

Subsequent records show that four of the officers here named 
later rose to the command of the 5th Regiment, to which the 
Grenadier Company belonged. These were Capt. Benjamin 
Brown, Ensign Willard Newton, Sergt. Elmer Newton, and 
Corp. Josiah Wheeler; hence in the closing years of their lives 
they all bore the title of colonel. The 5th Regiment, formed 
a part of the 2nd Brigade, 7th Division of Massachusetts Militia. 



416 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 



It is stated in Hon. Alexander H. Bullock's centennial ad- 
dress that other citizens of Eoyalston besides those belonging 
to the Grenadiers 'Svent out into active service and mingled 
in the engagements of the war on distant fields," but if there 
were any such, their names and records of service have been 

lost. 

In the Mexican War, Eoyalston, as far as we have been able 

to discover, took no active part. 



THE CIVIL WAR 

From the unwarlike temper evinced by the town in these 
last two conflicts it might be concluded that her old martial 
spirit, shown so clearly during the Revolution, was on the 
wane; but it only needed the dreadful exigency of our great Civil 
War to fan the smouldering embers of that spirit into aflame 
of furnace heat. The news of the firirg on Rumter on Fric'ay, 
April 12, 1861 and the fall of the fort two days later fell upon 
the ears of the citizens of the Bay State like a sudden thunder 
clap out of a threatening sky. Events followed in quick suc- 
cesions. Monday, the 15th of April, came the President's 
call for troops. Two regiments of militia, the 6th and 8th, 
already organized, were immediately dispatched for Wash- 
ington. Another ominous Friday, the 19th, came with its clash 
of arms in Pratt Street, Baltimore, and the killing and wound- 
ing of forty men of the 6th Regiment. Nothing more was needed 
to arouse the people of Royalston to a true sense of the gravity 
of the crisis. 

On the evening of the third day after the riot in Pratt Street, 
a public mass meeting was held in the old town hall on the Com- 
mon. At this first war meeting animating speeches were made 
by Rev. Ebenezer Bullard, Joseph Raymond, and others, and 
warmly applauded. Finally volunteers were called for to assist 
in putting down the rebellion. The response was spontaneous 
and enthusiastic. The first man to enroll his name is said to 
have been the late Henry S. Wood, subsequently a soldier of 
the 25tli Mass. Regiment, who survived his army life full 
50 years. Eighteen other brave and re? olute men followed 
his example. As the Bay State's quota at that time was al- 



THE CIVIL WAR 4l7 

ready full, these men were not called into the service. Most, 
if not all of them, enlisted later. 

On May 3d the President issued his first summons for 
troops to serve three }^ears. At this time thirty-nine regiments 
in all were needed, six being allowed to Massachusetts, In 
•one of these regiments, the 2nd, went five Royalston men, 
John W. Barms, Marshall Barms, Addison S, Bradish, Henry 
H. Higgins, and Edwin O. Vose, all of whom were mustered 
into the service May 25, 1861 atCamp John A. Andrew in West 
Roxl)ury, the rendezvous of the regiment. On the 8th of July 
the regiment was sent to the front and attached to the com- 
mand of Maj.-Gen. Patterscn at Martinsburg, Va. The 
five men above named were the first to enter the service from 
this town. 

On the 17th of June, Massachusetts was called upon to 
furnish ten more three-year regiments. Among these was 
the 21st in whose ranks were included some of Royalston's 
Ijest and bravest. The first to enlist in this regiment were 
Nathan S. Eay, Henry E. Knight, Chauncy W. Norcross, and 
Pranklin A. Eddy who were mustered on the 19th of July, 
the three first named as members of Co. G of Ashburnham. 
On the 23d of August, five more were added, Cortland A. 
Clark, Joseph Garner, Jonas Greeley, Sidney S. Heywood, 
and Benj. Frank Flagg. 

Clark and Garner were musicians, hence they joined the 
regimental band. Greeley and Heywood were attached to 
Co. A, sometimes known as the Templeton company, while 
Flagg joined Co. G. The regiment was assembled at Camp 
Lincoln on the Agricultural Fair Grounds in Worcester. Be- 
tween August 23 and 30 it was transported tp Annapolis, Md., 
in or near which place it remained until the following January, 
when it was attached to the Burnside Expedition to North 
Carolina. 

The formation of the Burnside Expedition made necessary 
the raising of additional troops, five more regiments being 
furnished by Massachusetts. One soldier for the 24th Regi- 
ment, thirty for the 25th Regiment, and three for the 27th 
Regiment were Royalston's contribution in this hour of need, 
making a total of thirty-four enlistments credited to the town 
between September 18 and October 23, of that first year of the 



418 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

There are those yet Uving who recall the cireunistances under 
which the boys of the 25th enlisted. The teacher at the Centre 
School that fall was James B. Smith, a promising young man, 
twenty-two years of age, a native of North Orange, and a 
graduate of Middlebury College. Fired with patriotic artlor, 
on the 18th of September he resigned his position as teacher 
and enlisted as a private in Company I, which was being re- 
cruited by Capt. Varanus P. Parkhurst of Templeton. 

A))0ut the time of his enlistment another war meeting was 
held in the town hall, and Messrs. Smith and Parkhurst were 
among the prom'nent speakers. Several of the older school- 
boys and other young men just out from school, enrolled them- 
selves then and there, but some remember signing the rolls the 
next day or the second day afterward at Mr. Smith's lodgings 
in the upper front chamber in the David Foster house, now the 
residence of Colin Mackenzie. On October 12, this gallant 
young gentleman was commissioned 1st Lieut, of Co. I, and 
before his departure to the front he was presented with a sword, 
sash, and lielt l)y the loyal and appreciative Royalston citi- 
zens. 

After participating with his company in the early l)attles 
of the Burnside Expedition, Lieut. Smith resigned July 19, 
1862, and a month later, August 22 he was commissioned 
Captain of Co. K, 36th Mass. Vol. Inf. October 12, 1864, 
he was promoted to Major; Nov. 13, 1864 to Lieut. -Col. ; and 
April 2, 1865 he was brevetted Col. of U. S. Vols, for gallant 
and meritorious service at the siege of Petersburg. From 
June 3, 1864, the day of the battle of Cold Harbor, until July 
28 following, when the siege of Petersburg was well under 
way, he commanded the 36th Regiment. In a letter written 
to the author under date of April 1, 1912, C-ol. Smith says he 
still treasures the sash presented to him by the people of Royal- 
ston. The sword and belt were lost at Bethesda Church, 
near Cold Harljor where his horse was shot under him and he 
himself was captured. He was a prisoner only a few hours, 
luckily escaping and returning to his comiiaid before sunrise 
the following morning. At the time the letter above referred 
to was received, Col. Smith was still actively engaged in life's 
work, being a prosecutor of railroad claims with office at 2626 
Indiana Ave., Chicago, 111. 



THE CIVIL WAR 4 19 

With Co. I of the 25th, also went Sergt. Joseph T. Nichols 
who accompanied his regiment in all its campaigns until June, 
1863 when he resigned to accept a commission as 2nd Lieut, 
in the .55th Mass. Colored Regiment. With this regiment he 
served until May 29, 1864, when he returned home to honor his 
town with useful citizenship for more than fifty years as he had 
so faithfully served and honored it upon the field of battle. 

The 24th Regiment rendezvouzed at Camp Massasoit, 
Readville, the 25th at Camp Lincoln, Worcester, and the 
27th at Csmp Feed, Springfield. Here the regiments re- 
mained until one by one they were forwarrled to Annapolis, 
Md., whither the 21st had already preceded them. In 
January of the next year all four regiments started with the 
expedition for Hatteras Inlet and the Carolina coast. 

During the month of November, 1861, five more Royal- 
ston men joined tlie army, enlisting in what was then known 
as the 1st Battalion Mass. Infantry. During the succeed- 
ing winter this battalion did guard duty at Fort Warren, 
Boston Harbor. On May 26th of the following year, the 
six companies in garrison at Fort Warren were reorganized 
as the 32nd Mass. Infantry and hurried to Washington 
After being encamped four weeks on Capitol Hill the regi- 
ment was sent to Harrison's Landing to reinforce the Army 
of the Potomac. 

Five soldiers for the 2nd Regiment, one for the 15th, 
one for the 20th, nine for the 21st, one for the 24th. thirty 
for the 25th, three for the 27th, and five for the 32nd, make 
a total of fifty-five enlistments in Massachusetts regiments 
credited to this town during the first seven months after 
the war l)egan. Within the same period two enlisted in 
the 2nd N. H. Regiment, two in the 3rd N. H., and one in 
the 3rd Vermont, making a total of sixty soldiers of whom 
we have positive record. Of these sixty volunteers, who 
enlistetl from motives of pui-est patriotism, without a dollar 
of bounty, and with no promise or hope of pecuniary re- 
ward, eight were killed or mortally wounded in battle, five 
died of disease, and three in prison — in all sixteen or fully 
one-fourth of the entire number. 

The names and record of each will be found in the al- 
phabetical lists which form a part of this chapter. 



420 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

On the 4th of July, 1882, after the Union reverses irt 
the Valley of Virginia and McClellan's disastrous campaign 
in front^of Richmond, President Lincoln issued a call for 
300,000 more troops to serve thi'ee years or during the war, 
and exactly one month later he followed this with another 
appeal for 300,000 additional men to serve nine months, 
and to be raised by draft if necessary. For Company D 
of the 36th Regiment, Royalston at on?e em'olled twenty- 
three men. For the 53cl Regimen I: she furnished two com- 
missioned officers, Qr. Mr. Sergt. Herman M. Partridge 
and 1st Lieut. Benjamin H. Brown, and twenty-five enlisted 
men, Lieut. Brown and the twenty-five privates being en- 
rolled as members of Company E. This brought the total 
of Royalston's enlistments up to 110. Every man had 
gone as a volunteer. Not one had up to this time been 
drafted. But to encourage these last enlistments it was 
voted at two town meetings held in July and August, re- 
spectively, to pay to each man who should enlist under 
either of these last two calls a small bounty of one hundred 
dollars. 

Prior to this, in October 1861, and in April, 1852, two 
appropriations of $1000 each had been made to assist the 
families of volunteere. Moreover, at the meeting in April, 
1862, the poll taxes of nineteen soldiers who were already 
in the service had been abated. 

The 36th Regiment was assembled at Camp John E. 
Wool on the Worcester Fair Grounds during the month 
of August. The last of the month came the news of the 
disastrous second Bull Run campaign, and on the 2nd of 
September, the regiment was hurried to Washington and 
thence to Sharpsburg, Md., where it joined McClellan's 
army just after the bloody conflict at Antietam. 

The 53d Regiment was assembled at Camp Stevens, 
near Groton Junction, seven companies, including Company 
E, being mustered into the service October 17th. On the 
29th of the following month the regiment was transported 
to New York City, where it remained until the 17th of 
January, when it embarked on the steamer Continental 
and joined Banks' expedition to Louisiana. 

During the year 1863 no enlistments are recorded fo-i 
this town. She had already sent into the service over eight 





GEORGE E. FRY 
Co. E, 5th N. H. Regt. 
Lost at Chancellorsville 



CORTLAND A. CLARK 

Band, 21st Regt. 





LYMAN S. WHEELER 
Co. I, 25th Regt. 



JAMES B. SMITH 

1st Lieut., Co. I, 25th Regt. 

^leut. Loi., 36th Regt. 



THE CIVIL WAR 421 

per cent of her population, and her farms and workshops 
were pretty thoroughly drained of young men of military 
age. From now on her enlistments were more scattered, 
and among the names on her rolls are those of twenty or 
more strangers who, we must assume, were recruits hired 
outside to help to fill the town's quota. Between February, 
1864 and February, 1865, the town furnished, exclusive 
of re-enlistments, twenty-seven additional soldiers distributed 
as follows: six for the 2nd Regiment of Infantry, three for 
the 9th, one for the 21st, one for the 26th, one for the 
28th, one for the 33rd, two for the 36th, and one for the 
58th; one for the 1st Regiment of Cavalry, four for the 2nd, 
and one for the 4th; one for the 7th Light Battery, one 
for the 4th Heavy Artillery, and three for the Veteran 
Reserve Corps. 

In addition to the above, Benj. Frank Flagg and Henry 
E. Knight of the 21st Regiment, Byron Doane of the 25th, 
and Levi Bosworth and Prescott Metcalf of the 27th, all 
re-enlisted in the same regiments respectively, while Willis 
Barton of the 53d served a second enlistment in the 21st, 
Wesley D. (loddard and Jonas E. Greeley, of the 21st each 
re-enlisted in the 57th, and Joseph T. Nichols of the 25th 
was discharged to re-enlist as a second lieutenant in the 
55th, all on the quota of Royalston. Others of our soldiers 
re-enlisted, l^ut not on our quota. 

We find then, 110 organized enlistments prior to Novem- 
ber, 1862, twenty-seven scattered enlistments between Feb- 
ruary, 1864 and February, 1865, one soldier Aaron Rice 
whose record is at present unobtainable, and nine re-enlist- 
ments, a total of 147 credited to Royalston during the 
four years of war. 

In the alphabetical list which follows, will be found the 
name of each soldier, his rank, age, company, regiment, 
the term for which he enlisted, the dates of his muster into 
the service and of the termination of that service, his pro- 
motions if any, and such of the following data as it is pos- 
sible to obtain: place and date of birth and names of par- 
ents; place of residence before the war; present residence, 
if now living; date and place of death and place of burial, 
if deceased; if wounded, whether mortally or not; if killed 
in action, died from disease or in prison, all the information 



^22 HISTORY OF KOYALSTON 

obtainable regarding these facts. The data lielow given has 
been secured from the written records of the town, vital 
records, state archives, regimental histories, cemetery in- 
scriptions, national cemetery records, and the testimony 
of numerous comrades and friends. The name of each 
soldier who died in the service from any cause, or who 
died at home as the immediate result of his service, is made 
conspicuous by ]:ieing starred (*). 



Baker, Harrison C, age 18; Co. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in July 30, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. June 8, 1865. Born in Royal- 
ston, April 16, 1844; parents, Richard and Laura Baker. Lived in the 
Richard Baker house, so called, in So. Royalston, now the residence of Elias 
Syria. Died in .\thol, July 30, 1915. Buried in Riverside Cemetery, So. 
Royalston. 

Baker, Louis, age 21; Co. A, 2nd Cav.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
March 23d, 1864. Reported as deserted June 25th, 1865. Probably a hired 
recruit. 

♦Barrett, George H., age 23; Co. L 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Sept. 26, 1861. Terminated Jan. 2, 1864 to re-enlist. Re-enlisted Jan. 
2d, 1864, probably on quota of Hubbardston. Captured at Drewry's Bluff 
May 16th, 1864. Died in Andersonville Prison, Aug. 27th or 29th, 1864. 
Probably came from Hartland, Vt. Worked for Mr. Ripley before the war. 
Buried in National Cemetery at Andersonville, Ga., grave No. 6952. 

Barrus, John W., age 20; Co. I, 2nd Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
May 25th, 1861. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. May 28, 1864. Slightly 
wounded at Antietam, Sept. 17th, 1862, and again at Getty.sburg, July 3d, 
1863. Finally discharged near Resaca, Ga. while on Sherman's campaign 
for Atlanta. Born in Richmond, N.' H., Oct. 26, 1840; parents, Ira and 
Lucina Barrus. One of three brothers serving on Royalston's quota. Worked 
at Prouty's mill before the war. Now resides in West Fitchburg, Mass. 

Barrus, MarshaH, age 19; Co. I, 2nd Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
May 25th, 1861. Severely wounded in left arm and hand at Chancellorsville, 
May 3d, 1863. In hospital at Ft. Schuyler, N. Y. for about 8 months. Trans- 
ferred to Vet. Res. Corps Jan. 16th, 1864. Born in Richmond, N. H., date 
not given; parents, Ira and Lucina Barrus. One of three brothers serving 
on Royalston's quota. Worked at Prouty's mill before the war. Died in 
Orange, Mass., about 1868. Buried in Orange. 

Barrus, William J., age 27; Co. D, 36th Inf. ; term, 3 years. Mu.stered 
in July 30th, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of .serv. June 8th, 1865. Severely 
wounded in the hips at Bethesda Church, near Cold Harbor, June 3d, 1864. 
Born in Richmond, N. H., May 1st, 1835; parents, Ira and Lucina Earrus. 





JOHN W. BARRUS 
Co. I. 2nd Regt. 



MARSHALL BARRUS 
Co. I, 2nd Regt. 








EDWIN O. VOSE 

Co. F. 2nd Regt. 

Mortally wounded near Winchester 



WILLIAM J. BARRUS 
Co. D, 36th Regt. 



THE Civil. WAR 423 

One of three brothers serving on Royalston's quota. Worked at Lyman 
Stone's mill before the war. Now resides at Soldiers' Home, Chelsea, Mass. 

Barton, Willis H., age 16; Go. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mustered 
in Oct. 17th, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. Second 
enlistment in Co. G, 21st Infantry; term, 3 years. Mustered in Feb. 18th, 
1834. Transferred to 36th Regt., October, 1834. Transferred to 56th Regt., 
June 8th, 1865. Hon. disch. after close of war, July 12th, 1865. Born Aug. 
4th, 1846. Died at Soldiers' Home, Ch-lssa, Mas?., Jan. 2d, 1911. Buried 
at Soldiers' Home. 

Bennett, Henry L., age 18; 7th Light Battery; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in July 18th, 1864. Di.sch. for disaliil., Jan. 27th, 1865. Born in New 
Fane, Vt., July 4th, 1846; parents. Mason and Jane A. Bennett; worked at 
Lyman Stone's mill before the war. Now resides in Baldvvinville, Mass. 

Bissell, Emerson E., age 38; Corp. Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. 
Mustered in Oct. 17th, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. 
Worked for S. S. Farrar before the war. Built and lived in the Carpenter 
house, so called, in So. Royalston, lately owned by John H. Hall. Now 
resides in Keeiie, N. H. 

Blanchard, Charles, probably the same as Charles W. Blanchard, age 
19, Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in Oct. 25th, 1861. Hon. 
disch. at exp. of serv. Oct. 20th, 1864. Also credited to Westl)orough. 

Bosworth, Amos B., age 41; Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mus- 
tered in Oct. 17th, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. Born 
in Royalston, July 25th, 1821; parents, Joseph and Abigail Bosworth. Lived 
near the foot of Doane's Hill. One of three brothers serving on Royalston's 
quota. Father of Joseph Bosworth, same company and regiment. Killed 
on a circular saw at Leonard Moore's mill in Royalston several years after the 
war. Buried in the Old Cemetery at the Centre. 

*Bosworth, Hosea A., age 31 ; Co. I, 25th Inf. ; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Sept. 26th, 1861. Mortally wounded in the thigh at Cold Harbor, June 3d, 
1864. Died of wounds at David's Island, N. Y., July 10th, 1864. Born in 
Royalston, Dec. 22d, 1829; parents, Joseph and Abigail Bosworth. Lived 
near the foot of Doane's Hill. One of three brothers serving on Royalston's 
quota. 

*Bosworth, Joel S., age 34; Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Oct. 8, 1861. Taken prisoner at Drewry's Bluff, May 16th, 1864. Died 
at Charleston, S. C. (Reg. Hist, says Andersonville) Sept. 24th, 1864. Born 
in Royalston, Oct. 17th, 1827; parents,. Chilson and Chloe Bo.sworth. Lived 
in east part of the town near Sandy Hollow. 

*Bosworth, Joseph W., age 18; Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mus- 
tered in Oct. 17th, 1832. Disch. for disabil. probably in June, 1863. Died 



424 HISTORY OF ROVALSTON 

of chronic diarrhea, July 24tli, 18G3, soon after getting home. Born in 
Royalston, Dec. 5th, 1843; parents, Amos and Ehza J. Bosworth. Lived 
near the foot of Doane's Hill. Father in same company and regiment- 
Buried in the Old Cemetery at the Centre. 

Bosworth, Levi, age 23; Sergt. Co. B, 27th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in Sept. 20th, 1861. Terminated Dec. 23d, 1863 to re-enlist. Re-en- 
listed Dec. 23d, 1863. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. June 26th, 1865. Adjt. 
Gen's. Report says he was commissioned 1st Lieut., May 15th, 1865, but was 
finally discharged as a sergeant. Born in Royalston, Feb. 13th, 1837; parents, 
Joseph and Abigail Bosworth. Lived near the foot of Doane's Hill One of 
three brothers serving on Royalston's quota. Now living in Chester, Vt. 

Bowker, George W., age 41; Co. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in July 30th, 1862. Disch. by order of War Dept., June 12th, 1865. 
Taken prisoner at Poplar Grove Church, h'ept. 30th, 1864; confined in Sails- 
bury Prison, N. C. Born in Royalston, 1821. Lived in east side of first 
house east in the Park, So. Royalston. Worked in Whitney's chair ?hcp. 
Died in So. Royalston, May 25th, 1879. Buried in Riverside Cemetery, So. 
Royalston. 

Bradish, Addison S., age 22; Co. I, 2nd Inf.; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in May 25th, 1861. Disch. for diKibil. Jvly 25th, 1862. Severely 
wcimded in the leg at Winchester, May 25th, 1862. Born in Winchendon. 
Now deceased. 

Brown, Benjamin H., age 38; 1st Lieut. Co. E, 53d Inf. ; term, 9 months. 
Mustered in Oct. 17th, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. 
Born in Royalston, July 21st, 1824; parents, Col. Benjamin and Betsey 
Brown. Lived on his father's farm near Col. Elmer Newton's. One of three 
brothers in the service. Died in Royalston Centre, Oct. 14th, 1910. Buried 
in Old Cemetery. 

Brown, Franklin, age 39; Co. B, 19th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in May 14th, 1864. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. June 20th, 1865. Absent, 
sick, at muster out of comj^any. The only man drafted from Royalston who 
responded in person to the draft. Born, 1825; parents. Art H. and Catherine 
Brown. One of two brothers serving on Roj-alston's quota. Died in So. 
Royalston, 1873. Buried in Riverside Cemetery. 

*Brown, George, age 39; Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
Oct. 9th, 1861. Mortally wour.ded at or near Goldsboro, N. C, Dec. 16th or 
17th, 1862. Died at Newberne, N. C, Jan. 18th, 1863. Born, 1821 . ; parents. 
Art H. and Catherine Brown. One of two brothers serving on Royalston's 
quota. Buried in National Cemetery at Newberne, N. C, grave No. 1675. 

Burgess, Martin, age 23, Co. I, 25th Mass. Inf.; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in Sept. 28th, 1861. Wounded in side at Cold Harbor, Va., June 3di 
1864. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Oct. 8th, 1864. Born in Ashburnham. 





CHARLES M. UPHAM 
Capt. Co. A, 58th Regt. 
Killed at Cold Harbor 



BENJAMIN H. BROWN 
1st Lieut. Co. E, 53rd Regt. 





HERMAN M. PARTRIDGE 

Q. M. Sergt. 53rd Regt. 



JOHN S, MOORE 
Co. E, 53rd Regt. 



THE CIVIL WAR 425 

One of two lirothers in the service. Died as result of a runaway accident in 
Granville, N. Y., 1912. 

Burgess, Mirick, age 23; Co. I, 3d N. H. hif.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Aug. 24th, 18(51. Wounded in hip at Secessionville, S. C, June 16th, 1862. 
Transferred to Co. H, 2d Battalion, 12th U. S. Inf., Dec. 18th, 1862. No 
record of discharge. Born in Ashburnham. One of two brothers in the 
service. Now living in Winchester, N. H. 

Bussannius, Adolphus, age 24; Corp. Co. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. 
Mustered in July 17th, 1 Slj2. Disch. for disabil. March 17th, 1865. Wounded 
in the assault on the Shand Hou.se redoubt near Petersburg, June 17th, 1864. 
Worked for Mr. Rijiley before the war. 

Chamberlain, Stillman, age 23; Co. D, 36th Inf. ; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in July 23d, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. June Sth, 1865. 

*Chase, George L., age 23; Co. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in July 30th, 1862. Mortally wounded in leg above the knee at the Wilder- 
ness, May 6th, 1864. Died of wounds at Campbell's Hospital, Washington, 
D. C, June 8th, 1864. Born in Royalston, Dec. 11th, 1839; parents, George 
and Esther Chase. Reg. Hist, and Mass. Vols, credit him to Winchendon. 
Our town records and his family traditions say he served on Royalston's 
quota. Lived in north part of town, near John Comic'.s. Body brought 
home and buried in Old Cemetery at the Centre. 

*Chase, John S., age 17, Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
Oct. 14th, 1861. Taken prisoner at Cold Harbor, June 3d, 1884. Died in 
Andersonville Prison, Aug. 30th, 1864. Born in Royalston, 1844; parents, 
Francis and Ruth Chase. Lived on his father's farm, now the home of 
Charles Chase, on the road to So. Royalston. One of two brothers serving on 
Royalston's quota. Buried in National Cemetery at Andersonville, Ga., 
grave No. 7313. 

Chase, William H., age 18; Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Sejit. 30th, 1861. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Oct. 20th, 1864. Born in 
Royalston, June 18th, 1843; parents, Francis and Ruth Chase. Lived on his 
father's farm on the So. Royalston road. One of two brothers serving on 
Royalston's quota. Now lives in Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands. 

Clark, Ambrose, age 45; Co. A, 32d Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
Nov. 1st, 1861. Disch. for disabil. March. 2d, 1862. Born in Royalston, 
Jan. 15th, 1806; parents, Edson and Lei)he Clark. Lived near the old school- 
house in South Royalston. Died in South Royalston, May 18th, 1882. Buried 
in Old Cemetery, near Methodist Church. Age above given probably 
erroneous. 

Clark, Cortland A., age 24, Band, 21st Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Aug. 23d, 1861. Disch. by order of War Dept., Aug. Uth, 1862. Born in 
Royalston, 1837; parents, Lyman and Olive Clark. Lived with his father 
opposite the blacksmith shop in South Royalston. Worked in Geo. Whitney's 



426 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

chair shop. Died in Gardner, Mass., 1909. Buried in Riverside Cemetery, 
South Royalston. 

Clark, Thomas, age 21 ; 2nd Inf. Mustered in June 28th, 1S64. Unas- 
signed; never joined regiment. Prol:)aljly a hired recruit. 

Clement, Arthur C, age 17; Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Oct. 1st, 1861. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Oct. 20th, 1864. Probably a 
native of Bolton, N. Y. Reg. Hist, and Mass. Vols, credit him to Bolton, 
Said to have lived with C. Maxham. 

Connor, Thomas, ag? 21; 2nd Inf. Mustered in June 28th, 1864- 
Unassigned; never joined regiment. Prol)al)Iy a hired recruit. 

Cross, Edward W., ag? 18; Cd. E, 53d Inf. ; term, 9 months. Mustered in 
Oct. 17th, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. Wounded in 
foot at Port Hudson. Born in Chesterfield, N. H., Oct. 23d, 1843; parents, 
Ebenezer F. and Olive Cross. Lived with his uncle. Wilder Cross, in South 
Royalston, when he enlisted. His father subsequently enlisted in Co. L, 
1st Vt. H. A., was captured and died in Anderson ville. Edward W. Cross died 
in Winchendon, March Uth, 1916, and was bmied in Riverside Cemetery, 
Winchendon. One of the last acts of liis life was to provide for the erection 
of a memorial to the soldiers of South Royalston. 

Davis, Charles, aga 20; 26th Inf. Mustered in June 2.5th, 1864. Unas- 
signed; never joined regimsnt. Probal^ly a hired recruit. 

Davis, Jay, age 24; Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in Oct. 
14th, 1861. Hon. disch. at e\:p. of serv. Oct. 20th, 1864. Wounded in side 
near Petersburg, June 15th, 1S31. Born in Royalston, Jan. 10th, 1837; 
parents, Cyrus and Dulcina Davis. Lived on or near the Sherwood farm in 
West Royalston. 

Day, David W., age 30; Corp. Co. I, 25th Inf. ; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Oct. 2oth, 1831. Disch. for disabil. June 3d, 1863. Born in Templeton, 
Mass., Jan. 15th, 1831; parents, Chauncy and Abigail Day. Lived in Jesse 
Wheeler farmhouse. Worked for Stockwell and Piper in brushwood shop. 
Died in South Royalston, 1877. Bm-ied in Riverside Cemetery. 

Day, Nathan S., agj 21; Ca. G, 21st Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
July 19th, 1861. Disch. for disabil. Feb. 9th, 1863. B;)rn in Royalston, 

Oct. 19th, 1840; parents, Uri and — Day. Lived on old Uri Day 

place in east part of town. One of two brothers serving on Royalston's quota. 
Died in Worcester, Mass., March 29th, 1889. Buried in Riverside Cemetery, 
South Royalston. 

*Day, Uri C, age 19; Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mustered in Oct. 
17th, 1862. Died of disease at Baton Rouge, La., April Uth or 18th, 1863. 

Born in Royalston, March 8th, 1844; parents, Uri and Day. Lived 

on old Uri Day place in east part of town. One of two brothers serving on 
Royalston's quota. 





WILLIS H. BARTON 
Co. E, 53rd Regt. 



GEORGE H. WOOD 
Co. E, 53rd Regt. 




MARTIN FALLON 
Co. E, 53rd Regt. 



THE CIVIL WAR 427 

Debous, James, age 32; Vet. Res. Corps. Mustered in Sept. 2d, 1864. 
No record of diseliarge. Probal)ly a hired recruit. 

Doane, Bernard H., age 18; Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mustered 
in Nov. 6th, 1862. Disch. for disabil. Jan. 8th, 1863. Worked as a farm 
liand for Solyman Heywood. 

Doane, Byron, age 23; Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
Sept. 28th, 1861. Terminated Jan. 2d, 1864 to re-enUst. Re-enUsted Jan. 
3d, 1864. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. July 13th, 1865. Born in Royalston, 
Oct. 31st, 1837; parents, Amos and Luciba Doane. Lived on Athol road, near 
Doane's Falls. Died in Royalston, 1901. Buried in Old Cemetery at Centre. 

Doane, William C, age 27; Corp. Co. D, 36th Inf. ; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in July 24th, 1862. Disch. for disabil. Dec. 22d, 1862. Contracted 
severe lameness while marching over the Blue Ridge in fall of 1862. Worked 
on a bench saw at Whitney's chair shop. Lived in Wendell after the war. 

*Eddy, Franklin A., age 28; Co. K, 21st Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in July 19th, 1861. Disch. for disabil. April 2()th, 1862. Returned to South 
Royalston and died of disease in a house near Farrar's shop, 1862. Born in 
Royalston, Feb. 4th, 1832; parents, William and Hannah Eddy. Childhood 
and youth spent on the old Eddy place midway between South Royalston and 
the Centre. 

Fallon, Martin, age 35; Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mustered 
in Oct. 17th, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. Born in 
Ireland; place of birth and parents' names unknown. Lived in the valley of 
the Lawrence, near New Cemetery, on road to South Royalston. Died at 
Quincy, Mass., Nov. 3d, 1906. Buried in Catholic Cemetery, Gardner, Mass. 

Fish, Allen, age 41; Co. B, 32nd Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in Nov. 
1st, 1861. Disch. for disabil. Jan. 7th, 1863. Built and lived in the small 
cottage just east of the railroad water tank. South Royalston. Worked in 
Whitney's sawmill. Place and date of death unknown. Buried in Riverside 
Cemetery, South Royalston. 

Flagg, Benj. Frank, age 22; Go. G, 21st Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Aug. 23d, 1861. Terminated Jan. 1st, 1864 to re-enlist. Re-enlisted Jan. 
2d, 1864. Transferred to 36th Regt., October, 1864. Transferred to 56th Regt., 
June 8th, 1865. Hon. disch. after close of war, July 12th, 1865. Born, 1839; 

parents, Samuel and Flagg. Lived in Ambrose Clark house, 

near old schoolhouse, Sjuth Royalston. A teamster. Died in Phillipston, 
Mass. Buried in Riverside Cemetery, South Royalston. 

*Forsaith, John, age 22; Co. G, 19th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
March 23d, 1864. Killed in action near Jerusalem Plank Road, south of Peters- 
burg, June 22d, 1864. Probably a hired recruit. 

Foster, Charles G., age 15; Go. A, 28th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in April 1st, 1864. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. May 31st, 1865. Probably a 
hired recruit. The youngsst soldier on Royalston's quota. 



428 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Freeman, Frank, probably the same as Francis Freeman, age 28; wagoner, 
Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in Oct. 11th, 1861. Hon. 
(Usch. at exp. of serv. Oct. 16th, 1864. .AJso credited to Worcester. 

French, Alonzo, age 30; Corp. Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mus- 
tered in Oct. 17th, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of sei-v. Sept. 2d, 1863. Never 
absent from duty for a single day. Born, 1831; parents, Frederick and Rhoda 
French. Worked in Ivimball's stable, near railroad station before the war. 
One of two brothers serving on Royalston's quota. Died in 1906. Buried in 
Riverside Cemetery, South Roy;ilston. 

French, Lucius F., age 19; Co. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in July 22d, 1S62. Hon. chsch. at exp. of serv. June 8th, 1865. Born, 1843; 
parents, Frederick and Rhoda French. Lived with Dea. Luther Harrington 
in South Royalston and worked iii his shop before the war. One of two 
brothers serving on Royalston's quota. Died at Morristown, Vt. 

Fry, Benjamin A., age 21; Go. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in July 21st, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. June 8th, 186.5. Born in 
Royalston, May 10th, 1841; parents, Benjamin and Miranda Fry. Great- 
grandson of Capt. John Fry of Louisbm-g and Crown Point fame. Always 
lived on Yxy Hill, north of the Centime, his present home. One of two brothers 
in the service. 

Garner, Joseph S., age 28; Band, 21st Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Aug. 23d, 1861. Disch. by order of War Dept., Aug. Ilth, 1862. Born in 
England, 1833. Lived in South Royalston and worked in Whitney's chair 
shop. Died in Gardner, Mass. 

*GiIes, Sanford, age 36; Co. D, 36th Inf.; tenn, 3 3'ears. Mustered in 
July 21st, 1862. Mortally wounded at Spottsylvania, C. H., May r2th, 
1864. Died of wounds at same place, May 16th, 1864. 

*Goddard, Wesley D., age 36; Co. I, 25th Inf. ; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Oct. 1st, 1861. Disch. for disabil. Aug. 4th, 1862. Second enhstment in 
Co. F, 57th Infantry; term, 3 years. Mustered in Feb. 18th, 1864. Mortally 
wounded by shell fragments in the trenches near Petersburg. Died a day or 
two later, Aug. 18th, 1864. Born in Royalston, Feb. 2d, 1825; parents, 
David and Czarina Goddard. Lived just east of the Baptist Comanon. 

Grant, Aaron A., age 24; Co. I, 25th Inf.; tenn, 3 years. Mustered in 
Sept. 28th, 1861. Disch. for disabil. March 16th, 1862. Bom,1837; parents, 
Aaron and Lucy Grant. A cobbler by trade. Lived at first house north of 
David Foster's, Royalston Centre. Now deceased. 

Greeley, Jonas E., age 20; Co. A, 21st Inf.; tenn, 3 years. Mustered 
i« Aug. 23d, 1861. Disch. for disabil. Jan. lOth, 1863. Second enlistment 
in Co. E, 57th Infantry; term, 3 years. Mustered in as Sergt. Jan. 25th, 
1864. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv., July 30th, 1865. Born in Royalston, 
June r2th, 1841; parents, Nathaniel and Delana Greeley. Lived near the foot 
of Jacob's Hill. Now living at 1 Federal PL, Worcester^ Mass. 





CHAUNCY W. NORCROSS 
Co. G, 21st Regt. 
Mortally wounded at Roanoke, Id, 



HENRY E. KNIGHT 
Co. G, 21st Regt. 
Killed at Spottsylvania, C. H. 





NATHAN S. DAY 
Co. G, 21st Regt. 



JONAS GREELEY 
Co. G, 21st Regt. 



THE CIVIL WAR 429 

Green, John, age 21; Co. H, 1st Cav.; term, 3 years. Mustered in Dec. 
24th, 1864. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. June 26th, 1865. Probably a hired 
recruit. 

*Hale, Samuel B., age 29; Go. D, 36th Inf.; term, .3 years. Mustered 
in Aug. 2nd, 1862. Killed at Spottsylvania, C. H., May 12th, 1864. Borp 
in Winchendon, 1833. Lived with his father on the Henry Taft place in 
northeast part of Royalston. Claimed by Winchendon, but name on our 
memorial tablets. 

*Hancock, George L., age 20; Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mus- 
tered in Oct. 17th, 1862. Died of chronic diarrhea at Carrolton, La., March 
8th, 1863. Born in Buffalo, N. Y., May 4th, 1842. Lived at Orrin Thomp- 
son's in the northeast part of the town. Buried in National Cemetery at 
Chalmette, Arabi, La., grave No. 70.59. 

Heywood, Sidney S., age 22; Sergt. Co. A, 21st Inf.; term, 3 years. 
Mustered in Aug. 23d, 1861. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Aug. 30th, 1864. 
Born in Royalston, Oct. 30th, 1839; parents, Solyman and Harriet Heywood. 
Lived on his father's farm in northeast part of town. Went to York, Pa., 
after the war and died there. 

Higgins, Henry H., age 26; Co. F, 2nd Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in May 2,5th, 1861. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv., May 28th, 1864. Formerly 
worked in Vose and Bartlett's shop, .South Royalston. Worked at Prouty's 
mills when he enlisted. 

Hill, Salem L., age 40; Co. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
July 31st, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. June 8th, 1865. Born in Royal- 
ston, Nov. 11th, 1821; parents, John and Lavinia Hill. Lived at the Abram 
Scott place near Old Schoolhouse, South Royalston. Died Jan. 3d, 1868. 
Buried in Riverside Cemetery. 

Howard, William H., age 25; Co. I, 25th Inf. ; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Sept. 26th, 1861. Disch. for disabil. Feb. 3d, 1862. Re-enlisted Aug. 9th, 
1862, probably on quota of Gardner, in Co. H, 36th Infantry. Hon. disch. 
at exp. of serv. June 8th, 1865. 

Howe, Gardner, age 36; 2nd Cav. Mustered in Feb. 27th, 1864. An 
unassigned and rejected recruit, March 10th, 1864. Probably a hired recruit. 

Hunt, James N., age 18; Co. E, 53d Inf. ; term, 9 months. Mustered in 
03t. 17th, 1852. Hjn. disch. at e.xp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. Born in 
Worcester, Mass., Sept. 20th, 1843. Adopted son of Phelps Hunt of Sharon, 
Vt. Worked and lived at Wm. Lewis' in eastern part of Royalston. Resides 
at 90 Columbia St., Maplewood, Mass. 

*King, Clarence E., age 18; Co. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in July 24th, 1862. Died of typhoid fever at Nicholasville, Ky., Aug. 23d, 



430 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

1863. Born in Royalston, 1844; parents, John and Mary King. Lived at 
his father's home in South Royalston, now the residence of David Cowiek. 

Knight, Charles S., age 18; Co. G, 21st Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Feb. ISth, 1864. Transferred to 36th Regt., October, 1864. Transferred 
to 56th Regt., June 6th, 1865. Hon. disch. after close of war, July 12th, 1865. 
Born in Hopkinton, Mass., 1845; parents, William and Harriet Knight. 
Lived at his father's home in South Royalston, now the residence of S. B. 
Forristall. One of two brothers serving on Royalston's quota. Now resides 
in Gardner, Mass. 

*Knights, George W., age 20; Corp. Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. 
Mustered in Oct. 17th, 1862. Died of disease at NeAv Orleans, La., April 10th, 
1863. Born, 1842; parents, Simeon and Lucinda P. Knights. 

*Knight, Henry E., age 18; Co. G, 21st Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in July 19th, 1861. Terminated Jan. 1st, 1864 to re-enlist. Re-enlisted Jan. 
2d, 1864. Killed in action at Spottsylvania, C. H., May 12th, 1864. Born 
in Hopkinton, Mass., 1843; parents, Wilham and Harriet Knight. Lived at 
his father's home in South Royalston, now the residence of S. B. Forristall. 
One of two brothers serving on Roj^alston's quota. Buried in National Cem- 
etery at Fredericksburg, Va., grave No. 1149. 

Mahler, Michael, age 21; Co. E, 2nd Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
June 30th, 1864. Disch. at exp. of serv. June 14th, 1865 in confinement. 
Probably a hired recruit. 

♦Manning, Patrick, age 24; Co. D, 20th Mass. Inf.; term, 3 years. 
Mustered in Aug. 29th, 1861. Killed at Gettysburg, Pa., July 3d, 1863. 

*Martin, Stephen W., age 25; Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Sept. 24th, 1861. Died of fever at Newberne, N. C, May 16th, 1862. 
Born in Richmond, N. H., April 18th, 1836; parents, Danvers and Olive 
Martin. Lived on Dea. Harrington's hill and worked in Edmund Stock- 
well's brushwood shop. South Royalston. Remains brought home and buried 
in Richmond, N. H. 

Mellen, Joel B., age 40; Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
Sept. 28th, 1861. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Oct. 20th, 1864. Born in 
Arhngton, Vt., Jan. 24th, 1821. Lived on River Road, near South Royalston. 
Returned to Newberne, N. C, after the war and is said to have died there 
Feb. 24th, 1866. 

Metcalf, Harlan P., age 22; Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Oct. 1st, 1881. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Oct. 20th, 1864. Born in 
Royalston, 1837; parents, Jonas P. and Harriet Metcalf. Worked and lived 
at Samuel Maxham's on road to South Royalston. One of two brothers serv- 
ing on Royalston's quota. Removed to Athol some time after the war. 

Metcalf, Prescott, age 17; Sergt. Co. B, 27th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in Sept. 20th, 1861. Terminated Dec. 23d, 1863 to re-enlist. Re-en- 




EDWARD W. CROSS 
Co. E, 53rd Regt. 




HENRY C. MOORE 
Co. E. 53rd Regt. 
Died at New Orleans, La. 



Wyi^ ^X 







URI C. DAY 
Co. E, 53rd Regt. 
Died at Baton Rouge, La. 




GEORGE W. MORGAN 
Co. E, 53rd Regt. 



THE CIVIL WAR /J/ 

listed Dec. 23d, 1863. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. June 26th, 1865. Adjt.- 
Gen's Report says he was commissioned 2d Lieut. May 15th, 1865, but was 
finally discharged as a sergeant. Born in Royalston, June 1st, 1843; parents) 
Jonas P. and Harriet Metcalf. Lived with the Burbank family in the Shep- 
ardson n3ighborhood. One of two brothers serving on Royalston's quota. 
Removed to Norfolk, Va., a^ter the war. Married and died there. 

Miles, Danvers, age 19; Go. A, 2nd N. H. Inf. ; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in May 31st, 1861. Wounded at Williamsburg, Va., May 5th, 1862. Dis- 
charged on account of wounds July 30th, 1862. Born in Fitzwilliam, N. H., 
Sept. 26, 1841; parents, Noah and Sophia Miles. Lived on Miles place in 
north part of Royalston. Now living in Soldiers' Home, Togus, Me. One 
of two brothers in the service. 

*Miles, George, age 25; Co. A, 2nd N. H. Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in May 31st, 1861. Killed at Oak Grove, Va., June 25th, 1862. Born in 
Fitzwilliam, N. H., March 13th, 1836; parents, Noah and Sophia Miles. 
Lived on Miles place in north part of Royalston. One of two brothers in 
the service. Picture in 2d N. H. Regimental History. 

*Moore, Henry G., age 19; Go. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mustered 
in Oct. 17th, 1832. Died of chronic diarrhea at New Orleans, La., April 
20th, 1863. Born in Royalston, Nov. 27th, 1842; parents, William and 
Pruda Moore. Lived at the foot of Davis' Hill. One of two brothers serving 
on Royalston's quota. 

Moore, John S., age 22; Go. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mustered 
in Oct. 17th. 1832. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. Born in 
Royalston, June 13th, 1840; parents, William and Pruda Moore. Lived and 
worked at Col. Elmer Newton's the year he enlisted. One of two brothers 
serving on Royalston's quota. Died May 13th, 1916. Buried in Shepardson 
Cemetery, West Royalston. 

Moore, Patrick, age 28; Vet. Res. Gorps. Mustered in Aug. Tith, 1864. 
No record of discharge. Probably a hired recruit. 

Morgan, George W., age 44; Go. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mus- 
tered in Oct. 17th, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. Born 
in Portsmouth, N. H., May 10th, 1818; parents, James and Lucy Morgan. 
Worked in Whitney's woolen mill and lived near Riverside Cemetery, South 
Royalston. Lost right forefinger at the battle of Donaldsonville. Died in 
So. Royalston, 1890. Buried in Riverside Cemetery. 

Nash, John, age 23; Go. I, 3d N. H. Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
Aug. 24th, 1881. R3-enlisted Jan. 1st, 1864. Wounded June 19th, 1864. 
Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. July 20th, 1865. Born in Peterborough, N. H. 

Nichols, Joseph T., age 29; Sergt. Go. I, 25th Inf. ; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in Sept. 28th, 1861. Disch. June 10th, 1863, for promotion. Com- 
missioned June 19th, 1863, 2d Lieut., 55th Inf. (colored), attached to Co. A- 



432 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

Resigned May 29th, 1S64. Bom in Royalstou, Feb. Sth, ISIVi; ])arent8, 
Elijah and Arsenith Nichols. Died in Royalston, May 20, 1915. Bva-ied in 
Old Cemetery at the Center. 

*Nitz, William, age 20; Co. B, 2nd Inf.i term, 3 years. Mustered in 
June 28th, 1864. Killed in action at Averysboro, N. C, March 16th, 1865. 
Born in Prussia. Prol^ably a hired recruit. 

Norcross, Andrew D., age 18; Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mus- 
tered in Oct. 17th, 1SJ)2. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. Second 
enlistment in Co. D, 4th H. A.; term, 1 year. Mustered in Aug. 23d, 1864. 
Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. June 17th, 1865. This enlistment credited to 
Worcester, Mass. Born in Winchendon, Mass., Sept. 2d, 1844; parents, 
Salmon and Mary Norcross. Lived with his mother on Dea. Harrington's 
hill, and worked in Whitney's woolen mill. One of two brothers serving on 
Royalston's quota. Died in South Royalston, Feb. 27th, 1912. Buried in 
Riverside Cemetery. 

*Norcross, Chauncy W., age 21; Co. G, 2Ist Inf.; term, 3 years. l\Ius- 
tered in July 19th, 1831. Mortally wounded in left arm and chest at 
Roanoke Island, Feb. 8th, 1862. Died of wounds Feb. 21st, 1862. Born 
in Winchendon, 1840; parents, Salmon and Mary Norcross. Lived with his 
mother on Dea. Harrington's hill and worked in Day's peg shop. One of two 
brothers serving on Royalston's tjuota. Buried in National Cemetery at 
Newberne, N. C, grave No. 1387. 

Olsen, Gustaff , age 21 ; 19th Inf. Mustered in March 23d, 1864. Unas- 
signed; never joined regiment. Probably a hired recruit. 

Osborn, Franklin A., age 37; Ca. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in Feb. 27th, 1861. Transferred to 56th Regt., June 8th, 1865. Hon. 
disch. after close of war, July r2th, 18 }5. Wounded in head at Poplar Grove 
Church, Sept. 30th, 1861. Worked in Whitney's chair shop. Died in Fitch- 
burg, Mass. 

Osgood, Nathan B., age 23; Co. H, 58th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Fel). 8th, 1865. Dis -h. by order of War Dept., Aug. 10th, 1885. Probably 
a hired recruit. 

Paine, Elkanah, Jr., age 28; Sergt. Co. A, 32nd Inf. ; term, 3 years. Mus" 
tered in Nov. 4th, 1S61. Terminated Jan. 4th, 1864 to re-enlist. This enlist- 
ment credited to Truro, Mass. Re-enlisted Jan. 5th, 1864. Hon. disch. at 
exp. of serv. June 29th, 1865. This enlistment credited to Royalston. Born 
in Truro, Mass., 1833; parents, Elkanah and Rebecca Paine. Worked for 
Joseph Walker when the war began. Now resides in Oxford, Mass. 

Palmer, Asa A., age 33; Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mustered 
in Oct. 17th, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. Worked 
blacksmithing for Leonard Wheeler at the Centre before enlisting. 





JOHN S. CHASE 
Co. I, 25th Regt. 
Died in Andersonville 



DAVID W. DAY 
Co. I, 25th Regt. 





WARREN L. WHEELER 
Co. I, 25th Regt. 



ALEXANDER STEWART 
Co. I, 25th Regt. 



THE CIVIL WAR 433 

Partridge, Herman M., age 30; Qr. Mr. Sergt. 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. 
Mustered in Ont. 17th, 1882. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. 
Born in Templet on, 1832; parents, Dea. Maynard and Mary Partridge. One 
of two l)rothers in the service. Died in Royalston, Dec. 13th, 1904. Buried 
in Old Cemetery at the Centre. 

Peck, Nelson F., age 21; Co, I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
Sept. 28th, 1861. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Oct. 20th, 1864. Born in 
Royalston, July 16th, 1840; parents, Lyman and Lorina Peck. Lived on the 
Herrick place in West Royalston, south of the meeting-house. Now resides 
in California. 

*Peirce, Arthur F., age 25; Co. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in July 25th, 1862. Died of cholera morbus at Hartwood, Va., Nov. 18th, 
1862. Born in Royalston, Sept. 27th, 1836; parents, Ebenezer and Abigail 
Peirce. Lived in last house in town on Warwick road. 

Pope, Charles, age 20; Co. B, 15th Mass. Inf.; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in July 12th, 1861. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. July 28th, 1864. Born 
in Eaton, Canada East, Feb. 5th, 1841; parents, Lemuel and Hannah Pope. 
Worked at Prouty's mill, Royalston, before the war. Died at Fitzwilliam 
Depot, N. H., Nov. 9th, 1897. 

Potter, Benjamin F., age 33; Co. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in July 21st, 1862. Disch. for disabil. Sept. 21st, 1863. 

^Raymond, George A., age 23; Co. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in Jan. 5th, 1861. Mortally wounded in lower part of abdomen at 
Bethesda Church, near Cold Harbor, June 3d, 1864. Died of wounds June 
4th, 1864. Born in Royalston, June 4th, 1841; parents, Artemas and Abigail 
Raymond. Lived next house below George Bolton's on road to Doane's 
Falls. 

Rice, Aaron. No record extant. Claimed that he served in the 6th 
N. H. Inf. No such name, however, o i the roster of that regiment. Included 
in the Assessors' list of Royalston's soldiers in summer of 1862. 

Rice, Nelson W., age 24; Co. D, 3d Vt. Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Sept. 16th, 1861. Discharged for disability, June 4th, 1862. Born in 
Winchendon, April 17th, 1837. Parents, Luke and Chloe Rice. Worked at 
Prouty's mills, Royalston, before the war. Now living, Fitzwilliam, N. H. 

Richardson, George O., age 25; Co. E, 53d Inf. ; term, 9 months. Mus- 
tered in Oct. 17th, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. Born 
in Royalston, Nov. 16th, 1836; parents, Abijah and Melinda Richardson. 
Lived on Israel Laml) farm in West Royalston, al)Out war time. Died in 
Fitzwilliam. 

Robbins, John, age 22; Co. D, 33d Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
June 24th, 1864. Never joined regiment. Probably a hired recruit. 



434 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Russell, Gsorge W., ag3 18; Go. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mus- 
tered in Oct. 17th, IS'32. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1833. Lived 
where F. H. Goddard now reside.^. One of two brothers on Royalston's quota. 
Reported as now living in Keene, N. H. 

*Russell, Henry, ag:^ 18; Ca. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
July 21st, 1862. Mortally wounded in thro.xt in the trenches near the Crater, 
before Petersburg, Aug. 8th, 1864. Died of wounds Aug. 10th, 1864. Born 
in Richmond, N. H., 1844. When the war opeaed Hved where F. H. 
Goddard now resides. One of two brothers in the service. Buried in National 
Cemetery at City Point, Va., gnve No. 1436. 

Sampson, Henry K., age 37; Corp. Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. 
Mustered in Oct. 1st, 1861. Terminated Jan. 2d, 1864 to re-enlist. Re-en- 
listed Jan. 2d, 1864, probably on quota of Ashburnham. Disch. for disabil., 
July 3d, 1865. A cobbler; lived where Rebecca Gilmore recently died just 
west of the Lawrence. 

*Shepardson, John, age 18; Go. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in July 25th, 1862. Killed in action in the assault on the Shand House 
redoubt near Petersburg, June 17th, 1834. Born in RDyalston, D^c. 27th, 
1843; pareats, Eri and Sarah Shepirdson. Live 1 on his father's farm in West 
Royalston. 

Sherwin, J. G. W. T. M., age :39; Go. B, 32nd Inf.; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in Nov. 18th, 1861. Disch. for disabil. Dec. 31st, 1862. Born in 
Winchendon, Mass., July 21st, 1822; parents, Eliel and Dolly Sherwin. 
Lived in the Rugg house over Nat Beckwith's store. One of two brothers 
serving on Royalston's cjuota. Now deceased. 

Sherwin, William W., age 27; Go. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mus- 
tered in Oct. 17th, 1862. Hon. disch. at ex]). of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. Bom 
in Winchendon, Mass., 1835; parents, Eliel and Dolly Sherwin. Lived at 
Edson Clark or Putney house with his mother. One of two brothers serving 
on Royalston's cjuota. Now deceased. Buried in New Boston Cemetery, 
Winchendon. 

Siegrist, John, age 22; Go. A, 2nd Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
June 25th, 1864. Hon. cUsch. at exp. of serv. July 14th, 1865. Proliably a 
hired recruit. 

Smith, James B., age 22; 1st Lieut. Go. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. 
Mustered in Oct. 12th, 1861. Disch. July 10th, 1862 for promotion. Com- 
missioned Aug. 22d, 1862, Captain, Co. K, 36th Inf.; commissioned Oct. 12th, 
1864, Major, 36th Inf.; commissioned Nov. 13th, 1864, Lieut. Col. 36th Inf.; 
commissioned April 2d, 1865, Brevet Col., U. S. Vols. Hon. disch. at exp. 
of serv. June ISth, 1865, as Major. Wounded at Poplar Grove Church, Sept. 
30th, 1864. Born in North Orange, Mass., Dec. 27th, 1838; parents, Hum- 
phrey and Sophronia Smith. Taught Centre school in fall of 1861, boarding 
with David Foster. Now in business in Chicago, 111., with office at 2626 
Indiana Ave. 






BENJAMIN A. FRY 
Co. D, 36th Regt. 



JOHN SHEPARDSON 

Co. D, 36th Regt. 
Killed near Petersburg 





EZRA L. WHEELER 

Co. D, 36th Regt. 



CLARENCE E. KING 
Co. D, 36th Regt 
Died at Nicholasville, Ky. 



THE CIVIL WAR 435 



*Sprague, William H., age 39; Co. B, 27th Inf. ; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Sept. 2;)th, 18 jl. No record of discharge. Came home sick early in 1862. 
Died at South Royalston, of disease contracted in the service, May 10th, 1862. 
Born in Phillipston, Mass., Nov. 15th, 1821; parents, Wilham and Anna 
Sprague. Liv?:l and died in house now owned and occupied by Miss Angeline 
To.vnsend. Buried in Old Cemetery, Phillipston Centre. 

Stewart, Alexander, age 36; Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Sept. 28th, 1861. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Oct. 20th, 1864. Born in 
Northampto.i, Mass., June 18th, 1825; parents, Alexander and Teresa Stewart. 
Lived near S. S. Farrar's shop in South Royalston. Died in Athol, Mass., Feb. 
2Sth, 1903. Buried in Riverside Cemetery, South Royalston. 

Stewart, Charles H., age 24; Co. F, 4th Cav. ; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in June 2>th, 1831. Dishonorably dicharged, no date. Probably a hired 
recruit. 

Studar, Joseph, age 23; Co. L, 2nd Cav.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
March 23d, 1864. Hon. disch at exp. of serv. July 20th, 1865. Probably a 
hired recruit. 

isweeney, Daniel, age 40; Co. M, 2nd Cav.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
Feb. 9th, 1865. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. July 20th, 1865. Proljably a 
hired recruit. 

Swift, Francis H., age 21; Vet. Res. Corps. Mustered in Aug. 12th 
1864. No record of discharge. Probably a hired recruit. 

Tandy, Nathan S., ag? IS; Co. D, 3&th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in July 25th, 1832. Dis?h. for disabil. Feb. 26th, 1863. Born, 1844; parents, 
Rev. Lorenzo and Mary Tandy. Lived in West Royalston in house recently 
occupied by Mr. Gentleman. Now resides in Newport, N. H. 

*Tenney, Charles E., age 17; Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Oct. 17th, 1862. Died of chronic diarrhea at New Orleans, La., April 26th, 
1883. Born in Royalston, Oct. 18th, 1845; parents, Alvin F. and Mary D. 
Tenney. Lived on the old Emerson place, now called the Small place. 

Thatcher, Warren, age 32; Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mustered 
in Oct. 17th, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. Place of birth 
and parents' names unknown. Lived at the Grant farm on the Fitzwilliam 
road. Now deceased. Buried at Orange, Mass. 

*Townsend, James, age 24; Co. A, 32nd Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Nov. 4th, 1861. Died of typhoid fever at Harrison's Landing, Va., Aug. 
2d, 1862. Born in Royalston, April 6th, 1837; parents, James and Elvira 
Townssni. Split palm leaf for Stephen White at the Centre before the war. 
Body brought home and buried in Riverside Cemetery, South Royalston. 



436 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Upham, Otis K., age 19; Co. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in 
July 30th, 1S62. Disch. by order of War Dept., June 21st, 1865. Born, 1843; 
parents, Willard and Sophronia Upham. Lived in the Richardson district in 
the north part of the town. 

*Vose, Edwin O., age 17; Go. F, 2nd Inf. ; term, 3 years. Mustered in May 
25th, 1861. Mortally wounded in action near Winchester, Va., May 24th» 
1862. Died of wounds ths same day. One record says died June 25th. Born 
in Ro\^alston, Sept. 26th, 1843; parents, Charles and Rebecca Vose. Lived 
in the Longley house, South Royalston. Buried in National Cemetery at 
Winchester, Va., grave No. 3731. 

Walker, Joseph, age 37; Sergt. Co. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in Aug. 11th, 1862. Disch. for disabil. Oct. 29th, 1863. Bom in Royal- 
s-ton, June 30th, 1825; parents, Asa and Anstis Walker. Lived at the Centre. 
Died in Royalston, June 16th, 18S8. Buried in Old Cemetery at Centre. 

*Walker, Marcus A., Go. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered in Sept. 
28th, 1861. Died of disease at Portsmouth, N. C, Jan. 28th, 1863. Born, 

1840; parents, Elijah and Walker. Lived on the Butterworth farm 

in West Royalston. 

Warner, Alanson, age 38; Go. D, 4th H. A.; term, 1 year. Mustered 
in Aug. 19th, 1864. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. June 17th, 1865. Probably 
a hired recruit. 

Weber, John, age 39; Go. A, 2nd Inf. ; temi, 3 years. Mustered in June 
25th, 1864. No record of discharge. Probably a hired recruit. 

*Welch, William, age 28; Go. G, 24th Inf.; tenn, 3 yeai-s. Mustered 
in Oct. 2d, 1861. Died of disease at Port Royal, S. C, Aug. 9th, 1863. Rec- 
ords vary about this soldier. The above is taken from Mass. Vols., Vol. II, 
Page 461. 

Wheeler, George N., age 26; Go. I., 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in Sept. 2Sth, 1861. Disch. for disabil., Aug. 4th, 1862. Born in Shel- 
burne Falls, Mass., June 12th, 1835; parents, L3onard and Phebe Wheeler. 
Lived at his father's, opposite David Foster's. One of two brothers serving 
on Royalston's quota. 

Wheeler, Lyman S., age 24; Sergt., Co. I, 25th Inf.; tenn, 3 years. 
Mustered in Sept. 26th, 1861. Terminated Jan. 2d, 1864 to re-enlist. This 
enlistment credited to Royalston in Mass. Vols. Re-enlisted Jan. 3d, 1864. 
Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. July 13th, 1865. This enlistment credited to 
Templeton, Mass. Captured near Winston, N. C, April 16th, 1863. Ex- 
changed July 17th, 1863. Wounded at Drewi-y's Bluff, May 16th, 1864. 
Born in Royalston, 1837; parents. Col. Josiah and Martha Wheeler. Lived 
on his father's farm, now C. H. Brooks' in South Royalston. One of three 
brothers in the service. Now resides in San Diego, Cal. 





ASAPH M. WHITE 
Co. D, 36th Regt. 



ROLLIN N. WHITE 
Co. D, 36th Regt. 
Killed at Cold Harbor 





STEPHEN P. WHITE 
Co. D, 36th Regt. 
Died at Annapolis, Md. 



GEORGE W. BOWKER 
Co. D, 36th Regt. 



THE CIVIL WAR ^J7 

Wheeler, Warren L., age 18; Corp., Co. I, 25th Inf.; term 3 years. 
Mustered in Sept. 27th, 1861. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Oct. 20th, 1864. 
Born in Royalston, March 25th, 1843; parents, Leonard and Phebe Wheeler. 
Lived at his father's, opposite David Foster's. One of two brothers serving 
on Royalston's quota. Died in Fitchburg, Mass., fall of 191,5. 

White, Adriel C, age 27; Sergt., Co. E, 53d Inf. ; term, 9 months. Mus- 
tered in Oct. 17th, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. Born 
in Royalston, April 19th, 1835; parents, Adriel and Olive White. Lived on 
his father's farm in northwest corner of Royalston. One of four brothers 
in the service, three serving on Royalston's quota. Now resides in North 
Orange, Mass. 

White, Asaph M., age 21 ; Corp., Co. D, 36th Inf. ; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in July 21st, 1862. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. June 8th, 1865. Born 
in Royalston, Aug. 6th, 1840; parents, Adriel and Olive White. Lived on 
his father's farm in northwest corner of Royalston. A teacher. One of four 
brothers in flie service, three serving on Royalston's quota. Now deceased. 
Buried in Silver Lake Cemetery, Athol. 

*White, Rollin N., age 18; Corp., Co. D, 36th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mus- 
tered in July 21st, 1862. Mortally wounded in left shoulder at Bethesda 
Church, near Cold Harbor, June 3d, 1864. Died of wounds at Harewood 
Hospital, Washington, D. C, June 25th, 1864. Born in Royalston, Sept. 17th, 
1843; parents, Adriel and Olive White. Lived on his father's farm in 
northwest corner of Royalston One of four brothers in the service, three 
serving on Royalston's quota. Body brought home and buried in a little 
cemetery in northwest Royalston. 

*White, Stephen P., age 33; Co. D, 36th Inf .; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Aug. 11th, 1862. Died of typhoid fever at Anuapohs, Md., May 3d 1864. 
Born in Royalston, Dec. 2d, 1828; parents, Stephen and Harriet White. 
Was s3xton at the Centre when the war began. A palm leaf worker. Body 
brought home and buried in Riverside Cemetery, South Royalston. 

Wilson, George W., age 22; Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Oct. 4th, 1861. Hon. disch. at exp. of serv. Oct. 20th, 1864. Born in 
Royalston, 1839; parents, Wheaton and Jerucia Wilson. Lived in rear of 
Methodist church. South Royalston. One of two brothers m the service. 
Also claimed by Gardner. 

Wood, George H., age 20; Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mustered 
in Oct. 17th, 1862. Hon. disch at exp. of serv. Sept. 2d, 1863. Born in 
Royalston, April 3d, 1842; parents, John and Abigail Wood. Lived on the 
Ward place in northeast pait of Royalston. One of three brothers serving 
on Royalston's quota. Died in Tangerine, Fla., Jan. 29, 1909. Buried in 
Tangerine. 

Wood, Henry S., age 21; Co. I, 25th Inf.; term, 3 years. Mustered 
in Sept. 28th, 1861. Disch. by order of War Dept., Nov. 6th, 1863. Born 



4.JS HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

in Royalston, June 30th, 1S40; parents, John and Abigail Wood. Lived on 
the Ward place in northeast part of Royalston. One of three brothers serv- 
ing on Royalston's quota. Died in Claremont, N. H., April 17, 1913. Buried 
in New Cemetery, Royalston Centre. 

*Wood, John M., age IS; Co. E, 53d Inf.; term, 9 months. Mustered 
in Oct. 17th, 1862. Died of chronic diarrhea at Baton Rouge, La., May 15th, 
1863. Born in Royalston, May 7th, 1844; parents, John and Abigail Wood. 
Lived on the Ward place in northeast part of Royalston. One of three 
brothers serving on Royalston's cjuota. 



In the above list, I have included the names of about a 
dozen men who are claimed by other towns either within 
or without the state; but every such doubtful name is found 
in a document on record in the military archives of Massa- 
chusetts signed by Assessors William W. Clement, Richard 
Baker, and Cyrus B. Reed and sworn to before Barnet 
Bullock, justice of the peace, in the midsummer of 1862. 
They were undoubtedly credited to Royalston by the Ad- 
jutant-General of Massachusetts. Of the 138 separate soldiers 
above shown as having served on Royalston's quota, thirty- 
five, or fully twenty-five per cent, died for their country. 

Again in the military archives of the state is another 
interesting list of eight men who, in July, 1864, were arbi- 
trarily assigned to the quota of Royalston from the U. S. 
Receiving Ship Ohio, for service in the navy. Below are 
their names and the period for which each had enlisted: 

John Dow, 3 years. 

William W. Smith, 2 years. 

Henry Steiner, 2 years. 

John Steward, 2 years. 

Newhall H. Wilkins, 3 years. 

Joseph Williams, 3 years. 

John Wilson, 3 years. 

Standish M. York, 3 years. 

It may be doubted whether any one of the above men 
ever saw or heard of the town to whose credit they served. 

In addition to the men who are properly accredited to 
Royalston as having served on her quota there are other 
names which no Royalston historian could pass over in silence, 
names of men born or reared within the precincts of this 
town who nobly served their country on the quotas of other 





GEORGE N. RUGG 
Co. H, 56th Regt. 



WILLIAM O. BROWN 
1st Lieut, and Quartemaster, 25th Regt. 





EDWARD A BROWN 

Com. Sergt. 25th Regt. 

Quartermaster 53rd Regt. 

Captain. U. S. Vols. 



JAMES TOWNSEND 
Co. A, 32nd Regt. 
Died at Harrison's Landing 



THE CIVIL WAR 439 

towns or states. Some rose to high rank; others served in 
humble capacities; but all reflected undying honor and credit 
on the place of their birth or their boyhood. Of the forty 
men whose names and records follow eleven, or almost exactly 
twenty-five per cent, died in the service. As in the former 
lists, the names of those who died for their country are 
starred (*). 



Charles D. Barnes, Co. G, 34th Mass. Vol. Inf. Son of 
Rev. Asa and Caroline Barnes. One of two brothers in the 
service. Credited to Westfield, Mass. Spent his boyhood 
in South Royalston. 

*Mijron E. Barnes, Co. L, 3d Mass. H. A. Son of Rev. 
Asa and Caroline Barnes. One of two brothers in the service. 
Credited to Boston, Mass. Spent his boyhood in South 
Royalston. Died at or near Washington, D. C, of typhoid 
fever, July 22d, 1865. Buried in Riverside Cemetery, South 
Royalston. 

Edward A. Brown, Qr. Mr. Sergt. 25th Ma 53. Vol. Inf., 
later Qr. Mr. 53d Mass. Vol. Inf.; later Capt. and Com- 
missary of Subsistence, U. S. Vols. Brevetted Major Sept. 
1st, 1835. Son of Col. Benjamin and Betsey Brown. One of 
three brothers in the service. Credited to Fifcshburg, Mas5. 
Born in Royalston, Aug. 7th, 1827. Treasurer of Worcester 
County, 1875 to 1913. Died in Worcester, January, 1916. 
Buried in Fitchburg. 

William 0. Brown, 1st Lieut, and Qr. Mr., 25th Mass. 
Vol. Inf. Son of Col. Benjamin and Betsey Brown. One 
of three brothers in the service. Credited to Fitchburg, 
Mass. Born in Royalston, March 29th, 1815. Died in 
Fitshburg. 

*Charles Ciunmings, 1st Lieut., Co. E., 11th Vt. Vol. Inf. 
(1st H. A.), August 14th, 1862. Lieut.-Col., 16th Vt. Vol. 
Inf., Sept. 27th, 1862. Lieut.-Col., 17th Vt. Vol. Inf., Feb. 
9th, 1864. Wounded at the Wilderness, May 6th, 1864. 
Killed in action at Poplar Grove Church, Sept. 30th, 1864. 
He fell gallantly encouraging his men, and his last order 
was, "Look out for the colors," Son of Joshua and Heph- 



440 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Cummings. Credited to Brattleboro, Vt. Born in Royalston, 
Feb. 26th, 1821. 

Lysander Cutler. Col. 6th Wis. Vol. Inf., May 28th, 1861. 
Bri^-. Gen. U. S. Vols., April loth, 1863 to date from Novem- 
ber 29th, 1862. Bvt. Maj. Gen. U. S. Vols., Aug. 19th, 1864. 
Commanded, 6th Wis. Vol. Inf., summer 1861 — spring 
1862. "Iron Brigade" spring 1862 — summer 1862. Expedition 
against Va. Cen. R. R. August, 1862. 6th Wis. Vol. Inf., August, 
Xg62 — November, 1862. "Iron Brigade" November, 1862 — 
December, 1862. 2nd Brig. 2nd Div. 1st Corps in Chan- 
cellorsville and Gettysburg campaigns, 1863. "Iron Brigade" 
early spring 1864 — May 6th, 1864. 4th Div. 5th Corps in Wilder- 
ness, Petersburg campaign. May — August, 1864. Wounded 
at Gainesville, Aug. 29th, 1862; Wilderness, May 6th, 1864; 
Glove Tavern, Aug. 21st, 1864. 

Son of Tarrant and Lydia Cutler. Credited to Milwaukee, 
Wis. Born in Royalston, Feb. 16th, 1807. Died in Mil- 
waukee, Wis., July 30th, 1866. 

John D. Emerson, Co. F, 2nd Mass. Vol. Inf., credited 
to Athol, Mass. Detached on signal service Sept. 1st, 1861. 
Served before Port Royal and Charleston, S. C. Com- 
missioned 2nd Lieut, in Signal Corps October, 1863. Re- 
enlisted in 2nd N. Y. Heavy Artillery. Served to close of 
war. 

George A. Flagg, Co. C, 27th Mass. Vol. Inf., credited to 
Athol, Mass. Mentioned in Royalston Memorial. 

*George E. Fry, Co. E, 5th N. H. Vol. Inf. Son of Ben- 
jamin and Miranda Frye. One of two brothers in the 
service. Credited to Croydon, N. H. Born in Royalston, 
Aug. 18th, 1837. Killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville, 
May 2nd, 1863. 

Charles V. Goddard, Co. E, 53d Mass. Vol. Inf. Son of 
Charles and Lucinda Goddard. Credited to Athol, Mass. 
Born in Royalston, Feb. 1st, 1845. Now living in Athol. 

*Milto7i C. Handy, Co. I, 4th Vt. Vol. Inf. Son of James 
and Clarissa Handy. Credited to Wilmington, Vt. Born in 
Royalston, Aug. 21st, 1843. Died of disease, Feb. 15th, 
1862. 




MAJ. GEN. LYSANDER CUTLER 



THE CIVIL WAR 4^1 

Silas L. Hcywood, Sergt.. Co. A., 2nd N. H. Vol. Inf., 
Nov. 1st, 1861. 2nd Lieut., Co. A., 2nd N. H. Vol. Inf., 
Sept. 1st, 1862. Son of Benjamin and Sally Hey wood. 
Credited to Fitzwilliam, N. H. Born in Royalston. 

Theodore J. Hill, Co. H., 53d Mass. Vol. Inf. Son of 
John and Lavinia Hill. Credited to Winchendon, Mass. 
Born in Royalston. One of two brothers in the service. 

Henry J. Howe, Sergt,., Co. I, 10th Pa. Vol. Inf. (Pa. 
Res. Corps), September, 1861. 2nd Lieut. Co. I, 10th Pa. 
Vol. Inf., (Pa. Res. Corps), February, 1862. Capt. Co. I, 
10th Pa. Vol. Inf. (Pa. Res. Corps), May 16th, 1863. Bvt. 
Maj. Co. I, 10th Pa. Vol. Inf. (Pa. Res. Corps), March 13th, 
1865. Wounded at South Mountain, Sept. 14th, 1862. 
Prisoner at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13th, 1862. Credited to 
Riceville, Pa. 

Edward S. Kendall, Co. B. 15th Mass. Vol. Inf. Son of 
Sylvanus and Emily Kendall. Credited to Westminster, 
Mass. Born in Royalston, July 27th, 1842. 

George H. King, Co. A, 51st Mass. Vol. Inf. Son of John 
and Mary King. Credited to Worcester, Mass. Born in 
Royalston, 1839. Died 1906. Buried in Riverside Cemetery, 
South Royalston. 

E7ioch T. Lewis, Sergt., Co. E, 53d Mass. Vol. Inf., Oct. 
17th, 1862. Son of Timothy and Sally Lewis. Credited to 
Athol. Mass. Born in Royalston, Sept. 6th, 1830. Deceased. 
Buried in Highland Cemetery, Athol. 

James Oliver, 2nd, Co. B, 27th Mass. Vol. Inf. Son of 
George and Cynthia Oliver. Credited to Athol, Mass. 
Born in Royalston, Aug. 29th, 1832. 

Harlan P. Partridge, Sergt. Maj. 53rd Mass. Vol. Inf. 
Oct. 17th. 1862. Son of Dea. Maynard and Mary Par- 
tridge. Credited to Fitchburg, Mass. Born in Royalston, 
Nov. 22d, 1838. One of two brothers in the service. De- 
ceased. Buried in Old Cemetery, Royalston Centre. 

Samuel H. Peckham, Jr., Co. H, 23d Mass. Vol. Inf., 
Son of Rev. Samuel H. and Sarah Peckham. Credited to 
Harvard, Mass. Spent his childhood in South Royalston. 
One of two brothers in the service. 



442 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

William C. Peckham, Co. H, 23d Mass. Vol. Inf. Son 
of Rev. Samuel H. and Sarah Peckham. Credited to Har- 
vard, Mass. Born in South Royalston, Aug. 13th, 1841. One 
of two brothers in the service. 

George H. Piper, Co. H, 53d Mass. Vol. Inf. Son of Luke 
and Betsey Piper. Credited to Winchendon, Mass. Born 
in Royalston, Oct. 23d, 1828. One of three brothers in the 
service. 

James S. Piper, Co. G, 53d Mass. Vol. Inf. Son of Luke 
and Betsey Piper. Credited to Gardner, Mass. Bom in 
Royalston, Aug. 27th, 1835. One of three brothers in the 
service. 

Lysaiider B. Piper, served as a musician in an Illinois 
regiment. Son of Luke and Betsey Piper. Bom in Royal- 
ston, March 2nd, 1822. One of three brothers in the service. 

*Joshua Rich, Co. H. 38th Mass. Vol. Inf. Credited 
to Athol, Mass. Athol in "Suppressing the Rebellion" says 
he was born in Royalston. Shot through the body from 
side to side at the Wilderness, May 6th, 1864. Died three 
hours later. Body fell into hands of the enemy. Inscrip- 
tion on monument in Phillipston Cemetery. 

AndreiD J. Richardson, Capt. Co. C, 10th Wis. Vol. Inf., 
Oct. 3d, 1861 to rank from Sept. 30th, 1861. Capt. Co. G., 
10th Wis. Vol. Inf., Oct. 4th, 1862 to rank from Oct. 1st, 
1862. Son of Abijah and Lucy Richardson. Credited to 
Milwaukee, Wis. Bom in Royalston, March 8th, 1829. One 
of three brothers in the service. 

Vefferson Richardson, Co. F, 16th N. H. Vol. Inf. Son 
of Abijah and Lucy Richardson. Credited to Fitzwilliam, 
N. H. Born in Royalston, Aug. 2nd, 1827. Died at New 
Orleans, La., June 24th, 1863. One of three brothers in 
the service. 

Leander Richardson, Co. F, 16th N. H. Vol. Inf. Son of 
Abijah and Melinda Richardson. Credited to Fitzwilliam, 
N. H. Born in Royalston, Nov. 21st, 1838. Half brother to 
Andrew and Jefferson. 

George Rugg, Co. H, 56th Mass. Vol. Inf. Son of Lovell 
and Mary Rugg. Credited to Roxbury, Mass. Born in 





JAMES N. HUNT 
Co. E, 53rd Regt. 



ADRIEL C. WHITE 
Co. E, 53rd Regt. 





HARLAN P. PARTRIDGE 
Sergt. Maj. 53rd Regt. 



JOHN M. WOOD 
Co. E. 53rd Regt, 
Died at Baton Rouge, La. 



THE CIVIL WAR 443 

Troy, N. H., July 29th, 1846. Lived in Royalston 1862 to 
1866, except when in the army. 

*Am J. Sanborn, Co. E, 2nd U. S. S. S. Son of Mrs. 
Rhoda (Sanborn) French. Credited to Stowe, Vt. Spent 
his boyhood in South Royalston. Wounded at Antietam, 
Sept. 17th, 1862. Wounded later June 4th, 1864 and died 
of wounds June 21st, 1864. 

*Quincy A. Shepardson, Co. F, 53d Mass. Vol. Inf. Son 
of Jonathan and Nancy Shepardson. Credited to Petersham, 
Mass. Born in Royalston, Feb. 14th, 1826. Died of disease 
at Baton Rouge, La., July 27th, 1863. 

Andrew W. Turner, Co. F, 9th Vt. Vol. Inf. Son of 
Jason and Cynthia Turner. Credited to Bethel, Vt. Born 
in Royalston, June 28th, 1837. Taken prisoner at Harper's 
Ferry, Va., Sept. 15th, 1862. Now resides in South Gardner, 
Mass. 

*Charles M. Uphatn, Sergt. Co. E, 43d Mass. Vol. Inf., 
Sept. 20th, 1862. 2nd Lieut. Co. E, 43d Mass. Vol. Inf., 
June 4th, 1883. 2nd Lieut. Co. A, 58th Mass. Vol. Inf., 
Nov. 18th, 1863. Capt. Co. A, 58th Mass. Vol. Inf., Jan. 
13th, 1864. Killed in action at Bethesda Church near Cold 
Harbor, Va., June 3d, 1884. Son of John M. and Matilda 
B. Upham. Credited to Chatham, Mass. Born in Royal- 
ston, May, 1835. One of two brothers in the service. Buried 
in Riverside Cemetery, South Royalston. 

Lorenzo M. Upham, Co. G, 9th N. H. Vol. Inf. Son of 

John M. and Matilda B. Upham. Credited to Claremont, 

N. H. Born in Royalston, 1838. One of two brothers in 
the service. 

Ezra L. Wheeler, Co. D, 36th Mass. Vol. Inf. Son of 
Col. Josiah and Martha Wheeler. Credited to Templeton, 
Mass. Born in Royalston, Aug. 12th, 1823. One of three 
brothers in the service. 

Bufus B. P. Wheeler, Co. F, 52nd Mass. Vol. Inf. Son 

of Col. Josiah and Martha Wheeler. Credited to Orange, 

Mass. Born in Royalston, May 3d, 1829. One of three 
brothers in the service. 



444 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

*Chandler WhitJiey, Co. E, 30th Mass. Vol. Inf. Son of 
Lemuel and Mary Whitney. Credited to Athol, Mass. Born 
in Royalston, Feb. 20th, 1803. Died Feb. 1st, 1862 after a 
three weeks' illness. 

Wellington White, Co. F, 9th Mich. Vol. Inf. Later a 
first-class musician, same regt. Son of Adriel and OHve D. 
White. Born in Royalston, Aug. 22nd, 1832. Taken pris- 
oner at Murfreesboro, Tenn., July 13th, 1862. Now resides 
in Owasso, Mich. One of four brothers in the service, three 
serving on Royalston's quota. 

Charles A. Wilson, Co. I, 25th Mass. Vol. Inf. Son of 
Wheaton and Jerucia Wilson. Credited to Templeton, Mass. 

Born in Royalston 1842. One of two brothers in the 

service. 

* Nelson G. Wood, Co. B, 27th Mass. Vol. Inf. Place of 
birth and parents' names unknown. Credited to Athol, 
Mass. Spent his boyhood in South Royalston. Killed in 
action at Arrowfield Church, Va., May 9th, 1834. 



It is not assumed by the author, that the foregoing lists 
are complete or without error. It is frequently impossible 
for even the officials in the War Records' office at Boston to 
determine accurately on what towns' quotas some individual 
soldiers served. The records of the towns, of the Adjutant- 
General's office, and those given in regimental histories 
occasionally disagree. Those given above seem the best that 
can be obtained after the lapse of fifty years, and represent 
much painstaking effort. 

The Royalston Memorial gives in addition, the names 
of the following men who were drafted: Franklin Brown, 
Phineas S. Newton, Andrew J. Bliss, Philip H. Bliss, Chilson 
Bosworth, Jr., Wilson Carroll, Brashear French, Charles 
A. King, William Leathe, Lysander Howard, George E. 

Peirce, Reuben Pratt, Gun, A. Dwight Raymond, 

George S. Raymond, Joseph Shepardson, Caleb Stockwell, 
John B. Walker, Abijah Whitmore, and Silas Wyman, Jr. 
Of these twenty men, eighteen each paid $300. commuta- 
tion; one, Franklin Brown, responded to the draft in person, 
while Mr. Newton furnished a substitute at a cost of S500. 





HENRY S. WOOD 
Co. I, 25th Regt. 



JOEL B. MELLEN 
Co I, 25th Regt. 





WELLINGTON WHITE 
Band, 9th Mich. Regt. 



R. B. P. WHEELER 
Co. F, 52nd Regt. 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR 445 

This substitute entered the service under the name of Henry- 
Newton. 

Not only in the raising of soldiers but in contributions 
of money the town was exceedingly liberal. 

The Adjutant-General's records show that between 1861 
and 1865, Royalston raised and appropriated for war purposes 
exclusive of state aid, S16,000. 

An interesting chapter could be written on the patriotic 
action of the citizens in the various town meetings which 
were held during the course of the conflict. 

After the war, veteran organizations or "unions" were 
formed in various towns in this section, one in South Royal- 
ston, known as Norcross Union No. 8, in honor of Chauncy 
W. Norcross, the first boy from this town to fall in battle, 
but after a brief existence interest in the organization began 
to lag, attendance at its meetings fell off, and its members 
were largely absorbed later in the membership of the then 
newly organized G. A. R. Posts in Athol and elsewhere. 

During the late Spanish-American War, Royalston fur- 
nished no soldiers directly, but several boys who were born or 
spent their boyhood here served in the conflict, enlisting else- 
where. Among these were Leonard Collins, 9th Mass. Inf., 
died in Mass. Gen. Hospital as a result of his service; 
Frank B. Wheeler, Co. E, 8th Mass. Inf., served from June 
14th, 1898 to April 28th, 1899, suffers almost complete 
deafness; Frank "Webster, enrolled in a Rhode Island regi- 
ment. Hugh Goddard Davis enlisted in Co. E. Second Mass. 
Regiment, U. S. Volunteers, died Aug. 11, 1898, at Santiago, 
of emobolism, and is buried in Silver l^ake Cemetery at Athol. 
And there are others no doubt, whose names have escaped 
our notice. 



Here ends this brief outline of Royalston's military record. 
Many interesting facts have had to be omitted for want of space, 
but the story, such as it is, should fill our hearts with gratitude 
toward our soldier sons and toward the heroic fathers and 
mothers who gave those sons to serve and save their country. 



CHAPTER XVII 
MERCANTILE AND INDUSTRIAL 
MERCANTILE 

In its palmy days during the early part and middle of the 
last century Royalston was the centre of an extensive trade, and 
its stores and enterprising merchants drtw a large trade not 
only from the people of Royalston but from the surrounding 
towns. Many of the Athol people did their trading in Royals- 
ton, and the late Town Treasurer, Lucien Lord, of Athol, remem- 
bered hearing his mother tell how when a young woman work- 
ing in the cotton mill at Athol, she occasionally on a Saturday 
afternoon walked to Royalston Centre to buy her a calico dress. 
The eight horse teams of Col. George Whitney and Capt. 
George Peirce were kept busy all the time in bringing large 
loads of goods from Boston to the stores of the Bullocks and Es- 
tabrooks and Austin & Work on Royalston Common. 

Early in the last century Rufus Bullock, after tending store 
as a clerk, was induced to open a store on the Common, on his 
own account, which was located where his residence was, now 
the summer home of the Hill family. There he had intended 
to settle down in life as a country merchant; later when he en- 
gaged in manufacturing at South Royalston the store business 
was carried on in an ell to the Bullock residence by his brother, 
Barnett Bullock, who had associated with him his sons Calvin 
and Charles and did an extensive business. 

On the opposite side of the Common where the Lee residence 
now stands, was another store. A store occupied this location 
from early in the nineteenth century until the erection of the 
residence now there. Esquire Joseph Estabrook was for many 
years the proprietor. He was succeeded by Major General 
Franklin Gregory, who was the most enterprising merchant the 
town ever had and inaugurated here her largest trade, and 
whose untimely death in 1836 at the age of forty-four years was 
a great loss to the town. 

Joseph Raymond, a native of the town, who had been in 
Templeton from 1824 to 1838 engaged in mercantile business 




OLD TAVERN AND STORE BUILDING, WEST SIDE OF COMMON 
REMOVED ABOUT 1874 




OLD FIRE ENGINE 



MERCANTILE AND INDUSTRIAL 447 



W 



ith Col. Artemas Lee, under the firm name of Lee & Ray- 
mond, returned to Royalston and formed a co partnership with 
Joseph Estabrook which continued till the Spring or Summer 
of 1844, when Mr. Raymond retired from active business life. 
Phinehas S. Newton and his brother Chas. H. Newton were in 
company with Mr. Estabrook for awhile, and finally bought 
him out and carried on business there until 1870, when they 
were succeeded by Obadiah Walker, who when the old store 
building gave place to the residence erected by Joseph Esta- 
brook and Mrs. D. P. Clark, located his store and business 
where the present post office and store of Sumner C. French 
now stands. Mr. Walker continued in business here until 
1881, when he was succeeded by John E. King, who remained 
but a few months. Aurin C. Gordon carried on business here 
about three years and George W. Blanding for nearly five years. 
Sumner C. French, who is now the only merchant in Royalston 
Centre, has been in business since 1900. 

Near the south end of the Common, where the South Roy- 
alston road connects with the Common, and in front of the 
Nichols residence, was the large store of Austin & Work. This 
firm carried on an extensive business at this location for several 
years. 

On the west side of the street, near where the Congregational 
parsonage now stands, was another store for a number of years. 
This was in a building which had been occupied for many 
years as a tavern. Warren & Emerson first kept store here, 
and then for a time Emerson alone. Franklin Richardson then 
carried on business there for a short time, after which Hubert 
C. Bartlett kept a general country store there for four or five 
years. When the parsonage was built the old tavern and store 
building was moved to a location on the South Royalston road, 
where it was fitted up for a store, and where Dea. Joseph 
Walker carried on business for several years. It is now the 
residence of S. C. French. 

It was in the Royalston stores that several eminent Boston 
merchants served an apprenticeship and got their first experi- 
ence in business. Among these was John Dwight Morton, for 
many years head of one of the largest paint and oil stores in 
the country, who served his first apprenticeship in business 
when fifteen years old i n the Austin & Work store, where he 
remained three years. Franklin E. Gregory, son of General 



448 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Franklin Gregon-, was as a boy also in the Austin store. He 
went to Boston and was connected with George C. Richardson 
in the well known and eminent house of George C. Richardson 
& Co. Mr. Richardson was also a native of Royalston, and 
was for several years in partnership with General Gregory in 
the Royalston store. 



INDUSTRIAL 

Next to the church and school the saw mill and grist mill 
were the early hand maids of New England civilization, and so 
the proprietors of Royalshire at . one of their early meetings 
made provision for the mills, and their committee came here 
and selected the spot on the Lawrence, which to later genera- 
tions has been known as "Doane's Falls." Here Benjamin 
Marsh built a grist and saw mill and received a title to the 
"Mill Lot" south and adjoining the falls with other encourage- 
ment, and gave his bond to build and maintain suitable mill ac- 
commodations ; but failing to meet the conditions of his bond 
the proprietors recovered £200 in a suit at law, a part of which 
they afterwards remitted. He sold out and removed from town. 
Isaac Gale from Sutton succeeded him and probably the mills 
were not operated until Gale became proprietor ; previous to 
this bags of grain were carried on the shoulders of men through 
the wilderness to a neighboring town to be ground, and were 
brought back in the same manner they were carried. Isaac 
Gale died in 1779, and Henry Nichols was the next owner 
who carried on the mills. William Nichols, known as "Miller 
Nichols" carried on the grist mill for some time. 

There was also a clothier's shop in that vicinity, one Ben- 
jamin May having built as it is stated at "the base of the great 
Falls, but soon after moved up stream, to near the site of 
Amos Doane's unique concern," where he secured and made 
the home-mades of the people. After awhile his business pas- 
sed into the hands of Joel Nourse from Winchendon, about the 
beginning of the nineteenth century. Mr. Nourse built the 
dam north of the old red pail shop and carried on several kinds 
of business, erecting a blacksmith shop in which he had a trip- 
hammer, and a nail cutting machine. He also got under his 
control the oil mill and Clothier's mill and became the leading 




AMOS DOANE'S MILL AT DOANE'S FALLS 



MERCANTILE AND INDUSTRIAL 449 

manufacturer of his day in town. After Joel Nourse left town, 
Benjamin Bragg became proprietor of this privilege and con- 
tinued for a while the clothier's business. He also built a wool 
carding mill, which was afterwards converted into a satinet 
factory, where quite a business was done for some tim.e, and 
this became a lively section of the town. The mills of Mr. 
Bragg were burned in 1850. Sullivan Raymond carried on the 
manufacture of pails in this locality for several years, and since 
his business was closed up there has been no manufacturing 
carried on with the exception of what has been done at the old 
saw mill at the head of the falls on the Athol road. Sometime 
in the seventies the mill came into the possession of John Ken- 
dall & Son, who made many improvements, putting in two 
turbine wheels and a circular saw mill, and engaged in getting 
out all kinds of turned chair stock. After they gave up business 
the property went through the hands of several owners and was 
purchased by Bolton and Stimson, who did general sawing for 
many years, and then sold to E. E. Dickinson of Buffalo, New 
York. The old mill which had been a landmark for nearly a 
hundred years fell down Jan. 3, 1911. 

On the opposite side of the stream from this old mill Amos 
Doane commenced the erection of a large and rambling mill that 
remained for many years uncompleted, and which formed a 
unique and picturesque setting for the Falls and the deep gorge 
with its rocky sides. It w^as never used to any extent and finally 
was taken down a part at a time. 

Among the early builders of saw-mills w^as Capt. Pelatiah 
Metcalf from Wrentham, Mass., who built a saw-mill on the 
site of the mill later owned by Nathaniel Greeley, and now known 
as Cripple Creek. 

Lieut. Jonas Allen, one of the early settlers, built a saw-mill 
which in 1865 was owned by Lyman Stone, and is now owned 
by Herbert O. Smith. 

The saw-mill known for many years as the Leonard G. 
Moore mill on the Forbes Falls road, was built by Seth Holman, 
who after a while sold out to Baker and Underwood. Leonard 
G. Mooie in company with his father, James G. Moore, bought 
the mill in 1866, and a large business was carried on there for 
upwards of twenty years, in getting out building timber, chair 
stock and pail and tub stock, and it was said that for several 
years the largest business was done at this mill of any one in 



450 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

town except that of Colonel Whitney at South Royalston. The 
old mill was sold at auction in 1888, and has long since dis- 
appeared. 

Old records state that in the early days of the town there 
were eight sawmills, three grist-mills, six tanneries, two brick 
yards, two potashes, the oil mill, the clothiers mill, and all the 
small shoe shops, smithies, cider mills, etc., scattered over the 
town. 

The manufacture of potash was a thriving industry in the 
country from 1760 to 1800. By reason of its scarcity in England, 
Parliament remitted the duties in 1751 and encouraged its im- 
portation from Colonies where wood was plenty. In 1788 there 
were about two hundred and fifty potash works in Massachusetts. 
The woods chiefly employed were hickory, oak, beech, birch, 
elm, walnut, chestnut and maple. 

At a town meeting held in 1780 it was voted to grant one 
William Jerrel, a hatter, liberty to build a liatter's shop on the 
common and occupy the ground so long as he continnued the 
hatter's business thereon, and for many years he furnished the 
people with hats, and was also engaged in the fur trade. 

During the first half of the last century the hollow north of 
the Common became quite a manufacturing locality. The 
waters of "Little Pond," west of the Common, were diverted 
from their natural outlet and carried around by a canal through 
the hollow, furnishing water power for several shops. The 
most important one was tbe cabinet shop of Joseph Sawyer, in 
which pine furniture was manufactured quite extensively for a 
number of years. 

Joseph Sawyer belonged to the well known Sawyer family, 
noted as inventors, and of which Sylvanus and Addison M. 
Sawyer were members. He is said to have been the original 
inventor of a cane cutting machine, that, with improvements 
made upon it, revolutionized the rattan industry of the country, 
and which developed into the American Rattan Co. Mr. Saw- 
yer also invented the first automobile seen in this part of the 
country, and described by one who saw it as "a buggy with a 
wood burning steam engine for motor." Mr. Sawyer came up 
from Fitchburg with his newly invented vehicle, to the Centen- 
nial Anniversary in 1865, and as related by Mr. George E. 
Pierce, who was a witness to the event, he drove down the 



MERCANTILE AND INDUSTRIAL 451 

Common at a good rate of speed until he collided with a tree 
and the machine was demolished. 

After Mr. Sawyer left town, the manufacture of furniture 
was continued by Dea. Seth Holman, and after him by his son, 
Seth N. Holman, and Joseph B. Cardany, who became one of 
the prominent citizens of Athol. 

Below this privilege a large carriage and wheelwright shop 
was erected, where quite a business was carried on for several 
years. After this business was given up the shop was used by 
Phinehas S. Newton and Charles H. Newton as a palm leaf 
shop, where they prepared the leaf, which was put out to be 
braided into hats and woven into Shaker hoods, and the learns 
of the Newtons distributed the leaf and collected the hats 
throughout the towns of Northern Massachusetts and Southern 
New Hampshire. 

Two plans of Royalston are on file in the State House at 
Boston. The first, known as the 1795 Plan, is on a scale of two 
hundred rods to an inch, was drawn March 13, 1795, and sur- 
veyed in the months of October and November, 1794, by Wil- 
liam Town, Surveyor. This plan states that there are seven 
saw mills in towai, three grist mills and one fulling mill. By 
the Boston Road it is seventy-two miles to Boston, and it is 
thirty-eight miles to the Court House at Worcester. It gives 
the state line as 4^^ miles, 25 rods on Fitzwilliam and ?>% miles 
and 35 rods on Richmond, making a total of 8j^ miles and 60 
rods on the state line. 

The second plan, known as the Plan of 1830, was surveyed 
and laid down upon a scale of one hundred rods to an inch : in 
obedience to a Resolve of the General Court, approved by the 
Governor March 1, 1830, by Jonathan Blake, Jr., Surveyor, 
Feb. 3, 1831. This plan gives six saw mills, three grist mills, 
two woolen factories, twelve school houses, two tanneries, three 
stores, two cabinet makers shops, six blacksmith shops, one 
machine shop, one clothiers, one potash. 

In 1864 the saw mills had increased to thirteen, and these, 
with the shops, were turning out merchandise from the forests 
according to statistics as follows : 1,440.000 feet of lumber pre- 
pared for the market, 280 cords of staves, fifty thousand 
shingles, 32,000 chairs, 36,000 pails, 6,000 bushels of shoe pegs, 
1,585 cords of fire- wood and bark, 200 bushels of charcoal, 



452 HISTORY OF ROYAL.STON 

chair stock to the value of $5,650, brush-woods worth $10,806, 
and $12,000 worth of other wooden ware. 



POPULATION 

The growth of Royalston from its first settlement was rapid 
and in 1776 it numbered 617. From the opening of the Rev- 
olution to 1793 the number nearly doubled, and with a popula- 
tion of 1130 Royalston was then the most flourishing town of 
Northern Worcester, with the exception of Petersham, and one 
of the largest in the whole County, exceeding Ashburnham, 
Athol, Gardner, Tenipleton and Winchendon in population, 
having more than double the town of Gardner, which at that 
time had only 530, and being only 21 behind Fitchburg, which 
had 1151, and 60 behind Leominster, with 1190, and Worcester 
with a population of 2100 was only 970 ahead of Royalston. 

In 1793 the polls of Royalston as compared with other 
towns of Northern Worcester were as follows : Royalston 263 ; 
Athol 206 ; Winchendon 234 ; Templeton 241 ; Gerry 177 ; 
Fitchburg 268; Petersham 390. 

The number of inhabitants continued to increase at every 
census until 1840, when it had 1,667, the largest number in the 
history of the town. While the increase from 1810 to 1830 was 
only 78, the next ten years showed a gain of 174, which was 
due to the development of manufacturing industries in the vil- 
lage of South Royalston. The population at the times of taking 
the census has been as follows : 1800—1243; 1810—1415; 1820 
— 1424; 1830—1493; 1840—1667; 1850-1546; 1855—1469; 
1860—1486; 1865—1441; 1870—1354; 1875—1260; 1880—1192; 
1885—1053; 1890—1030; 1895—890; 1900—958; 1905—903; 
1910—792; 1915—866. 



INCOME TAXES 

During the time of income taxes in Civil War time, the in- 
comes of Royalston men were returned as follows : Incomes 
for 1864— 

S. S. Farrar, $500; A. K. Josselyn, $8,730; Elihu Piper, 
$740; R. R. Safford, $3,209; George Whitney, $12,124. 



MERCANTILE AND INDUSTRIAL 433 

Incomes for 1865 — 

Eber. W. Bullard, $53: Barnet Bullock, $904; S. C. Clem- 
ent, $46; Caleb W. Day, $134; Salmon S. Farrar, $300; Horace 
T. Hanks, $45; Jeffrey Lehy, $267; Sumner Marvin, $137; 
Chas. H. Newton, S400; Elihu Piper, $526; Roby R. Safford, 
$639; Edmund Stockwell, $560; Orrin Thompson, $404; John 
Whitmore, $128; George Whitney, $3,583; Eucien Webster, 
$657. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
ORGANIZATIONS 



MASONIC FRATERNITY 

Although Royalston never had a Masotiic Lodge within its 
borders, yet there have been loyal members of this Fraternity 
in the town from the early days of Masonry in this part of the 
country to the present time. There were a few members from 
Royalston in Harris Lodge, which was instituted in Athol in 
1802, just how many we are not able to state, but in 1834 when 
Harris Lodge was disbanded and the money in the treasury 
was divided, it is recorded that the Royalston Masons were 
paid thirty dollars as their share, and the two Royalston mem- 
bers at that time, Timothy Lewis and Jonathan Pierce, agreed 
to give their share for the support of preaching in the way they 
should think best. 

Benoni Peck, who was actively interested in Free Masonry, 
and was a member of the order for nearly seventy years, must 
have been one of the very early members of the Fraternity in 
Royalston. He was secretary of the Orange Lodge in 1825, 
and Asaph Merriam, who was a Baptist minister in West Roy- 
alston, was at one time chaplain of the Orange Lodge. Amos 
Woodward was also a member. Among the early Masons 
from Royalston who were members of either Harris Lodge or 
Orange Lodge we find the names of Adam Streeter, Russell 
Wheeler, Thomas Cobb, Benjamin Bragg, James Bennett, Lov- 
ell Kelton, Stephen G. Kendall, Jeremiah Matthews and John 
Whitmore. 

In 1864 Star Lodge was instituted in Athol and has through- 
out its history numbered among its members citizens of Royals- 
ton. Eri Shepardson was for twenty-five years treasurer of 
Star Lodge. Among those from Royalston who have been 
members of the Lodge are : Jay Davis, Caleb Cook, Rev. Lo- 
renzo Tandy, Franklin Richardson, Wm. W. Clement, Hosea 
D. Davis, Darwin F. Wheeler, Nathan S. Tandy, David W. 
Day, Caleb W. Day, George Woodbury, Horace Fisher, Leo- 



ORGANIZATIONS 455 

nard G. Moore, B. W. Rich, Luke B. Shepardson, Calvin C. 
Chapin, Herbert Walker, Joseph Walker, Walter S. Chapiii, 
Willard W. White, Charles W. Reed, Walter N. Farrar, Ever- 
ard B. Hanson. 



ROYALSTON GRANGE, NO. 195 

One of the most flourishing organizations in the town, and 
one which has contributed much to the social and intellectual 
life of the community, is the Grange. This was organized 
March 17, 1892, by State Master Elmer D. Howe of Marlboro 
assisted by W. H. Frost of Athol, with forty-two charter mem- 
bers. 

On March 24th the first officers were elected as follows : 
Master, M. W. White; Overseer, J. M. Wheeler; Lecturer, A. 
D. Raymond; Steward, Calvin H. Wilcox; Assistant Steward, 
L. G. P'orbes; Treasurer, W. H. Newton; Secretary, Carrie W. 
Raymond; Gate Keeper, C, H. Deland; Chaplain, L. E. Stew- 
art; Pomona, Hattie Moore; Flora, Stella V. Newton; Ceres, 
Lizzie Reed; Lady Assistant Steward, Cora Wetherbee; Orga- 
nist, E. J. Partridge; Chorister, H. M. Partridge. 

These officers were installed March 30th, with the officers of 
Athol Grange in the chairs, and State Master E. D. Howe as 
installing officer. Members from six neighboring granges were 
present, and many words of congratulation and encouragement 
were given the brothers and sisters of the new grange. 

At the end of the first year the membership had increased 
to fifty-three. The meetings of the first year were held in the 
Town Hall. During the year a hall was fitted up in the upper 
room of the school house, the first meeting in its new quarters 
being held Jan. 4, 1893. This was the home of the Grange for 
eleven years, when, the room being needed for school purposes, 
the meetings were agaiti held in the Town Hall, which has 
been the place of meeting to the present time. 

The largest number of members at any time was in 1895, 
when the year closed with one hundred and eight members. 
At the twentieth anniversary of the Grange it numbered ninety 
members, which was about one tenth of the population of the 
town . 



^5<5 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

The following have served the Grange as Master : M. W. 
White, L. H. Woodbury, C. A. Stimson, L. G. Forbes, h. E. 
Stewart, C. H. Brown, Myron Stockwell, C. E. Richardson, 
Eri Stewart. C. A. Stimson held the position at different times 
seven years. 

The Grange has held two successful fairs, two field days 
which were largely attended, and made three exhibits at the 
annual fairs of the Worcester North West Society in Athol. It 
has been helpful to its members and the community in many 
ways, especially in times of sickness and trouble, having given 
among its members $320 in money, while it has liberally assisted 
enterprises outside the order. 



CHAPTER XIX 
CEMETERIES 

The Iloyalston Memorial in describing the burial grounds 
of the town in 1865, says: "Of these there are nine in town^ 
bi'^ides family yards and places where one or only a few bodies 
have been interred." The original burial ground projected 
by the proprietors occupied the east side of the public square. 
Several interments were made on this ground, but being found 
very unsuitable for the purpose, it was exchanged for a lot lying 
southwest of the original plot and on the south side of the Athol 
road near the Centre school house. Later the town added several 
acres to this lot and enclosed the whole with a stone wall. It 
has also a receiving tomb and a hearse-house fronting upon the 
road, and there for a century' and a half have many of the dead 
of lloj^alston been conveyed to their last resting place. 

Another of the very early grave yards is the old burying 
ground located near where the first Baptist meeting house was 
erected; it is sometimes called "the grave j^ard under the hill." 
It is nearly two miles from the centre village close by the road 
to Warwick. When it was first laid out the highway skirted 
its southern border; now the traveled road is several rods 
north of it. Originally this was three-fourths of an acre of 
land fenced in on all sides by a substantial stone wall crowned 
with posts and rails. It is the last resting place of a great many 
of the forefathers of the town. Stephen Grant, the first man to 
die after the settlement of the town commenced was buried 
here, and also the remains of Mrs. Estey, the first woman who 
died in town found sepulchre in the same ground. One of the 
earliest headstones that has an inscription was "Erected to 
the memory of Mary Ellis, wife of Mr. Paul Ellis, who died 
Jan. 22, 1786, 24 years of age." Among the tomb-stones stand- 
ing in this yard are those to the memory of the two Kenneys, 
Rev. Isaac Kenney who died in 1800, and Rev. Moses Kenney 
who died in 1801; also to Capt. Pelatiah Metcalf who died in 
1807 and who contributed the land for this grave yard under 
the hill. 



458 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

When the Royalston Memorial described this yard in 1865 
it was stated that "it now lieth waste, and the forest usurps 
the field of the dead." Some twenty years after, the late P. J. 
Forristall, his two brothers and Jacob Estey of Brattleboro, 
made some attempts to reclaim this cemetery from the forest 
growth, and the yard was re-fenced and cleared up. Rev. 
Albert Bryant, Royalston's centennial poet gathered one of 
his garlands from this old cemetery as he thus refers to it: 

"To the grave yard come, below the hill. 
When the cares of busy day are still; 
And spell from broken stones the names 
That kindled Freedom's holy flames; 
The dewey pines a hundred years 
Have wet the ancient mounds with tears." 

"Though breaking day its splendor weaves 
Along a million pointed leaves; 
Or moon-baams o'er the solemn wood 
At evening draw their shining hood; 
No light, at morn or evening, shines 
Upon the graves beneath the pines." 

Shortly before the decease of Hon. Rufus Bullock in 1858 
he became much interested in the establishing of a new cemetery 
near the centre of the town, and with other citizens was instru- 
mental in the purchase of a lot on the east bank of the Lawrence, 
a short distance south of the road leading to South Royal- 
ston, with which it is connected by an avenue. The grounds 
have been enclosed by a good fence, avenues and paths have 
been laid out and considerable attention has V)een paid to the 
ornamentation and beautifying of the grounds. Mr. Bullock 
was so much interested in having this cemetery kept in good 
condition, and not be allowed to become the waste and desolate 
place that many cemeteries are, that he made his gift of five 
thousand dollars for the Ijenefit and use of the common schools 
of Royalston, conditional on the keeping of this cemetery in 
good order and condition by the town, for a clause in his will 
in which he bequeaths to the Town of Royalston the sum of 
five thousand dollars, the income of which shall be appropriated 
and paid over for the benefit and use of Common schools in 
the town; also says, provided, however, that whenever the said 



CEMETERIE.S 459 

town of Royalston shall neglect to keep, or cause to be kept, 
in good state of repair the new cemetery now being established 
on the ground recently purchased of C. H. Maxam, that is 
to say, shall neglect to maintain in good order and condition 
the said grounds, fence, gate and receiving tombs therein, then 
this sum of Five Thousand Dollars shall revert to and be paid 
over to my children and their heirs by right of representation. 
Another burial ground, which is the last resting place of 
many of the families of the West part of the town, is situated 
upon an eminence near the Warwick line, and southwest from 
the old Baptist common. This has been kept in better condition 
than some of the old burial grounds, has a receiving tomb and 
is well fenced. One of the early grave yards is situated near 
the Richmond line. A neat and well kept neighborhood cemetery 
which was laid out in the early sixties is located near the farm of 
Selectman Luke B. Shepardson. There are also family lots in 
several sections of the town. 



EPIDEMICS 



Rev. Joseph Lee in his half-century discourse says that in 
1777 "the dysentery prevailed and more than forty were carried 
off with it. It was computed that about one-twelfth part of 
the souls in town were taken away by that and other disorders 
in that year, the whole number of deaths being fifty-tw'o." 

In 1795, also, the canker or throat distemper in its various 
forms prevailed here, of which sixty-six persons died and twenty 
of other diseases in the same year making eighty-six in all. 
He also stated that before his settlement, which was in 1768, 
"that he understood there were eight deaths." One of these was 
an aged widow, two others were brothers by the name of Win- 
ship, the first of whom perished in the cold, and the other killed 
by the falling of a tree. Stephen Grant, the first man to die 
after the settlement of the town died Sept. 4, 1764. 



CHAPTER XX 
OLD TAVERNS AND STAGE COACHES 

The late Daniel Davis in an article on "Taverns in West 
Royalston" published in 1890 says: "The first tavern opened 
in West Royalston was located a few rods east of the first bridge 
that spans the quietly flowing TuUy above Long Pond, where 
Mr. Elisha Rich built the first house in that part of the town. 
The late Capt. Asahel Davis is authority for saying that he, 
with others, stopped there for refreshments about the time 
of the closing up of the Revolutionary war, and that Uzziah 
Green was landlord at that time." The late Mrs. James Walker 
said that when a girl she used to go down by the river to meet- 
ing Sunday noons. The girls would walk over the bridge for 
water to drink at the tavern, would stop and chat on the porch 
which extended the entire frontage of the house, and admire 
the natural and beautiful meadow just across the road, and 
its western boundary, the winding river; William Crawford 
lived there then. The old porch-front tavern disappeared long 
ago, and little remains to mark the ancient site. 

At a later period Deacon Jacob Estey was a genial Boni- 
face, and dispensed substantial entertainment to weary travelers 
and administered to the customary wants of the townspeople. 
His hostelry was the last house as you climb the western slope 
of the dividing ridge, known as Jacob's Hill. 

In the early years of the 19th century Peleg Kingsley hung 
out a sign on the west side of the road at the City, so that hungry 
and thirsty travelers, benighted at his door, often entered in 
to eat and drink, and find shelter until the next morning. His 
successors as far as known at this time were Calvin Peck, Arba 
Reed and John Chamberlain, Jr. Chamberlain closed out 
about 1826. 

On the opposite side the highway was another roadside 
inn, where the wayfarer found a traveler's home, and where on 
festive occasions the mug, overflowing with toddy passed metrily 
around the customers. James Buffum and Dana Rich are 
two of the landlords who entertained at that inn, the latter 
retiring in 1832. About two miles south of the city, where 



OLD TAVERNS 4()l 

Myron W. Sherwood now lives, in 1815 on the east side of the 
road stood erect a painted pole at the corner of some horse- 
sheds, and from a start sprung out near the top, was hinged a 
signboard swinging in the breeze and decorated on either face 
with the familiar name Simeon Jacobs, and the original date 
of 1806. About 1826 a raising was held at David Cook's, since 
known as the Tandy place, when a polished shaft was raised 
and secured in position and a sign board hung in its place, 
where it remained until nearly 1840, when the last of the tavern 
emblems disappeared from the local highways. 

Among the early taverns in other parts of the town was 
the half-wa}' house of Joseph Priest near the easterly line of 
the town where lie dispensed hospitality to those who passed that 
way to and from the French wars. Capt. Gad Pierce when he 
settled in Royalston opened a public house on the west bank of 
the Lawrence, and Capt. Peter Woodbury had a tavern on the 
Athol road. Henry Nichols, known as "Landlord Nichols" 
had a public house on what was known for many years as the 
Maxam place. 

In the southwest part of the town, which is now included 
in the town of Orange, Nathan Goddard from Shrewsbury, 
l)uilt a public house, tannery and saw mill and carried on an 
extensive business. \\\ the north part of the town on what was 
known for some years as the Miles place, Elisha Cheney kept 
a tavern and store. 

On the Common, early in the 19th century, Hon. Joseph 
Estabrook built a house which was for many years a tavern, 
where not only the stage coach made its daily visits, but the 
driver, the teamster and the way-faring man enjoyed its hos- 
pitalities, and the Senior Joseph Estabrook was the host, and 
an honored type of ye olden time landlord. Near the south 
end of the Common was another tavern which stood on the site 
of the present Congregational parsonage. 



STAGE COACHES 

The first mail conveyance that Royalston liad was on the 
route established in 1812 from Worcester to Kcene, N. H., and 
the carrier was Jonathan Pierce of Royalston, who at first made 
weekly trips over the road in an old "one horse shay," which 



462 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

was said to be of the same pattern as the "Deacon's One Horse 
Shay," and nearly as venerable in appearance. Mr. Pierce 
was in this service nearly twenty years and was as regular as 
the sun in his rounds. He is described as a large man of fine 
physique, quite companionable, of a social turn and calcu- 
lated to win friends, a host of which he had on his route. He 
was succeeded by a line of stage coaches put on by Russell 
Wheeler and Jonas Forristall of Royalston, about 1830. This 
enterprise was tried a few years, Vjut with indifferent success 
and was finally given up, and Benoni Ballou of Richmond, con- 
tinued the carrying of the mail from Royalston to Keene, on 
the same line with a horse and wagon for several years. Besides 
carrying some passengers he did errands, now called express 
business. About 1835 another line of stages for carrying the 
mail was run under management of Ginery Twitchell, the 
famous stage coach driver and manager, which continued until 
about the time of the building of the Vermont & Massachusetts 
railroad, when the daily mail route over this line ceased, and 
the days of the old stage coach were passed. The poet expresses 
the feelings of many when he says: 

"Oh, the days are gone when the merry horn 
Awakened the echoes of smiling morn, 
As, breaking the slumber of village street, 
The foaming leaders galloping feet 
Told of the rattling, swift approach 
Of the well-appointed old stage coach." 



CHAPTER XXI 

OLD CUSTOMS AND PRACTICES 

Col. Josiah H. Benton in his book "Warning Out in New 
England," says: "No people can break from their past. Bands 
of custom and heredity, invisible as they may be at times to 
all but close students of history, bind every generation of men 
to their historic past. The fundamental principles of the laws 
and customs of the people of New England can be traced step 
by step to the laws and customs of ancient England and Ger- 
many and even to the remote villages of the Aryan East." 

The early record books of Royalston contain the doings and 
votes of the town regarding many of these now obsolete cus- 
toms. The custom of "Warning Out," as it was called, was one 
of these. The right of inhabitancy, sometimes called the free- 
tlom of the community, existed in the Teutonic townships. 
Palgrave says: "The earliest notices respecting the Teutonic 
townships are to be collected from the laws of the Salic Franks. 
A "villa" was entirely the property of the inhabitants, and no 
stranger could settle within its boundaries unless with the 
consent of the whole incorporation. The right of the towns 
to exclude from inhabitancy within their limits was undoubtedly 
exercised in the New England colonies of New Plymouth, 
Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut and even in Rhode Island. 
The increase of population and the desire of persons to move 
from one place to another in the colony, however, began to 
make it practically impossible to enforce the rights of towns 
to exclude new comers from inhabitancy by physically pre- 
venting them from coming in, or removing them if they did 
come into the town. New persons came into the different 
towns and resided therein, and they were entertained, not- 
withstanding the laws against it, so that the towns became 
liab'e to the support of persons whom they did not actually 
admit by vote of the inhabitants or action of the town authori- 
ties. In this state of affairs, relief was given to the towns by 
legislation, authorizing them to warn new comers to depart 
from the towns and providing, that, if they were so warned, 
their subsequent living in the town should not make them in- 



^^^ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

habitants entitled to support in case of poverty. In Novem- 
ber, 1692, an act was passed specially providing for warning per- 
sons who might come into a town to leave it, and for a record 
of the names of such persons, and a warning to them in court. 
Warning out was practiced generally by the Massachusetts and 
Plymouth towns under this legislation down to the Act of 
Settlement of 1793, when an act was passed repealing all laws 
as to town settlements and providing how settlements should 
be thereafter gained, and with this went all provisions 
for warning out of town, and no such warning has since existed 
in Massachusetts. The returns of warnings out from the dif- 
ferent towns in Worcester county from 1737 to 1788, on the 
records of the Court show that 6,7fi4 persons were thus warned 
out from forty different towns during that period. In some of 
the towns, it is said, a large proportion of the inhabitants ap- 
pear in the list of persons warned, and many of them became 
prominent citizens in the towns. 

Among these "Warnings Out" on the Royalston record-^ 
are the following: 
"WORCESTER, SS. 

To either of the Comtables of the Town of Royalstcn in the 
County of Worcester GREETING: 

In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
you are directed to warn and give notice unto James 
Bellows, laborer, the widow Sarah Bran, William Foster and 
Hannah his wife, Jeremiah Woodcock and wife and children, 
Asa Flagg, wife and children, Silas Chubb, wife and children; — 
who have lately come into this town of Royalston for the pur- 
pose of abiding therein, not having obtained the town's consent, 
therefor, that they depart the limits of this town with their 
children within fifteen days from the date hereof. And of 
this precept with your doings thereon, you are to make return 
into the office of the Town Clerk of the Town of Royalston 
in twenty days next coming; that such further proceedings 
may be had in the premises as the law directs. Given under 
our hands and seals this 25th day of May 1791. 

JOHN FRYE, 
PEL ATI AH METCALF, 
S. HEMENWAY, 
PETER WOODBURY, 
SAMUEL GODDARD, 

Selectmen. 



OLD MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 465 

Tithing Men. There was one officer who during- religious ser- 
vices stood next to the minister, in importance if not in rank; an 
officer who was partly constable and partly a corrector of public 
manners and mor ils. That was the tithing man. H s duties were 
on Sundaj', and it was his business to prevent all driving except 
of those who were going to church; and in the meeting house, 
it would be a mistake to suppose that he was a superfluous 
church ornament, for it was his special province to look after 
the sleepers and the boys. The prayers were sometimes long, 
and so were the sermons, and not unfrequently, but especially 
on a hot day their soporific qualities were such as to put some 
of the company to sleep. Then the tithing man went around 
vigorously poking the male snorers with his tithing rod. At 
every annual March town meeting two or three of these officers 
were elected. It would seem that there came a time, early in 
the nineteenth century when the laws relating to the Sabbath 
were being disregarded and violated, for we find that a town 
meeting was called for Nov. 7, 1814, at which the only business 
was, "to see what measures the Town will take respecting 
inforcing the laws of this Commonwealth relating to the due 
observance of the Sabbath, whether by choosing additional 
tything men or committee, or act anything thereon." Under 
that article the town chose Deacon Amos Jones, Jr., Deacon 
Levi Thurston, John Eaton, Samuel Bliss, Stephen Holman, 
David Taft, John Chamberlain and Deacon Benjamin Allen, 
tything men. 

Pounds. Another institution formerly found in every 
New England town, now obsolete in most towns, was the Pound 
for confining stray cattle. Sir Henry Maine says: — "There is 
nothing of greater antiquity in England than the village pound, 
it is older than the King's bench and probably older than the 
kingdom. One of the first things that our ancestors did after 
their incorporation was to erect a pound. At a town meeting 
held in Royalston May 2, 1796, it was voted under one of the 
articles "to build a Pound the present year 25 feet square and 
6 1-2 feet high." 

The Town of Shutesbury in Franklin County, utilized their 
Pound at one time by confining their minister Rev. Abraham 
Hill in the public pound and forced him, it is said, to live upon 
herrings thrown to him over the fence. Upon the l)reaking 
out of the Revolution it was discovered that Mr. Hill was a 



466 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

strong royalist and a committee chosen to discourse with him 
concerning his views, reported that they had been unable to 
make him see things in their own light; he was requested to 
resign and his salary was discontinued. He not only declined 
to resign but adhered still more strongly to his political prin- 
ciples; hence his imprisonment in the town pound. 

Perambulation of Town Bounds is another custom that has 
come down to us from our English ancestry, and to this day 
the law requires that the town lines be perambulated at stated 
times. The English custom since the time of Elizabeth made 
it obligatory once a year; and the substantial men of the parish 
and the boys of the parochial school turned out and walked over 
the bounds, while the parish beadle and the curate in his cossack 
read from the psalm, ^'Cursed be he which translateth the 
bounds and doles of his neighbors." Somet'mes the boys were 
flogged in order to impress the precise locality of the land mark 
on their memories. This work is now done by the selectmen 
of the several towns. 

Sealer of Weights and Measures. The sealing of weights 
and measures is an old English custom; the government of 
England made regulations in regard to weights and measures 
long before the time of Magna Charta; and as early as the 
time of Henry VIII, Parliament introduced the system of send- 
ing weights and measures to the chief officers of the town to be 
proved. 

At a town meeting held Nov. 8, 1779, it was "Voted to have 
a set of Weights and Measures provided for a Town Standard," 
and a Sealer of Weights and Measures is now a town official 
either elected at town meeting or appointed by the selectmen. 




SOUTH ROYALSTON PARK 




FITCHBURG RAILROAD STATION, SOUTH ROYALSTON 



SOUTH ROYALSTON 



CHAPTER XXII 
DESCRIPTIVE AND INDUSTRIAL 

The territory now comprised in the village of South Royals- 
ton was originally a part of Athol and Gerry and became a part 
of Royalston in 1799 and 1803. Located in the extreme south- 
east corner of the town four miles from the Centre and the seat 
of local town government, this village has been a community by 
itself almost as much as a separate town, in its social relations, 
its churches, schools and business, many of the people going to 
the Centre only at the annual town meetings and on some great 
event or celebration, and in treating of the families, churches, 
business and organizations of South Royalston it would seem 
most fitting and appropriate that they should be described to- 
gether as a community instead of forming a part of the general 
history of the town. 

Here Millers River makes a bend as it comes from Winchen- 
don, and for a mile or more flows through this corner of Royals- 
ton furnishing water-power for the manufacturing plants that 
have made this the active and enterprising industrial village 
that it has been for more than three quarters of a centurj'. Situ- 
ated in the narrow river valley, the homes of the people are built 
from the river and railroad up the sloping hillside on either hand 
to the higher lands above, from which locations, fine views are 
obtained of the winding river and country around. 

So far as we are al)le to ascertain the first person to develop 
the water power of what is now South Royalston, was one Ben- 
jamin Blanchard, who in 1785 purchased of Josiah Wait, one acre 
and sixteen rods of land lying along Millers River. This land was 
then in Athol and Benjamin Blanchard is described as being a 
millwright of Athol. The Royalston Memorial of 1865 says 
that he built the first saw mill in South Rovalston near the S. S. 



468 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Farrar shop. He must have invested largely in South Royalston 
land for the same account of him says that he owned a large 
tract of land including most of what is now covered by South 
Roj'alston Village and on nearly to Winchendon line. He was 
quite a mechanical character; invented a wheel with a register 
for measuring distances on the roads and was often seen testing 
his wheel upon the highways. He died Oct. 17, 1808, at the age 
of eighty-three years. In addition to a saw mill Mr. Blanchard 
also built a grist mill, and sold other mill privileges to parties as 
shown by a deed given by him to Edward Cambridge of Temple- 
ton, dated Jan. 16, 1795, which gives the following description: 
"A certain privilege on Millers River, so-called, southeast of said 
Blanchard 's mills, for a fulling mill and a privilege of a shop and 
tender lines on a piece of land east of land now belonging to 
Josiah Wait, beginning at a stake and stones easterly fifteen 
rods, northerly three rods, westerly fifteen rods to said Wait 
land, on his line three rods, to the first bound mentioned N. B. 
The said Cambridge is to build and keep in repair one-fifth part 
of the dam or dams for said mills and not to obstruct the water 
from the Grist Mill in a drought." - ■ 

The Royalston Cotton and Wool Manufacturing Company 
was incorporated by Chapter 114 of the Acts of 1812. The Act 
reads as follows: "An Act to establish the Roj'alston Cotton and 
Wool Manufacturing Company." 

Sect. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority 
of the same. That Benjamin Davis, Isaiah Fairbanks, Eliphalet 
Chase, Silas Hale, Francis Twichell, Daniel Fairbanks, Francis 
Fletcher and Ebenezer Blanding together with such others as 
have already or may hereafter associate and join with them, 
their successors and assigns, be hereby made a corporation by 
the name of the Royalston Cotton and Wool Manufacturing 
Company, for the purpose of manufacturing cotton and wool 
in the town of Royalston; and for that purpose, shall have all 
the powers and privileges, and be subject to all the duties and 
requirements contained in "An Act defining the general powers 
and duties of manufacturing corporations," passed the third day 
of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and nine. The Act allowed the corporation to hold and possess 
real estate to the value of twenty thousand dollars, and personal 
estate not exceeding the value of fifty thousand dollars. The 




WHITNEY STONE WOOLEN MILL, SOUTH ROYALSTON 

Destroyed by Fire Aug. 20, 1892 




OLD CHAIR SHOP OF COL. GEORGE WHITNEY AT SOUTH ROYALSTON 




CHAIR SHOP HANDS, SOUTH ROYALSTON, 1885 



DESCRIPTIVE AND INDUSTRIAI, 4(,9 

Company erected a Mill on the site now occupied by the Mills 
of the American Woolen Company. The business did not prove 
to be a success, and the different members of the Company dis- 
posed of their interests, until finally the whole property came in- 
to the hands of Silas Coffin and Rufus Bullock. This Original 
mill was burned in 1833 when Mr. Bullock became the sole pro- 
prietor of the privilege and all the property belonging to it. In 
1834 he built the stone mill; put in four sets of woolen machin- 
ery and continued to run the business until his decease in 1858. 
On the death of Mr. Bullock, George Whitney with Daniel Day 
of Royalston, bought the mill, and for a few years carried on the 
manufacture of cassimeres. After Mr. Day went out of the 
business Rufus S. Frost of Boston, was associated with Mr. 
Whitney, and after him James Phillips, Jr., of Fitchburg. From 
1886 to 1889, Mr. Whitney was alone in the business, and with 
his son, George E. Whitney, had the sole ownership and man- 
agement of the establishment. The mill was totally destroyed 
by fire on Aug. 20, 1892. At that time forty-five looms were 
running, employing one hundred and seventy-five hands in the 
manufacture of woolen cloths. 

Two or three years before Rufus Bullock built the old stone 
mill in 1834, Salmon S. Farrar came as a poor boy from Win- 
chendon to South Royalston. At first he worked by the day for 
J. M. Upham, and then commenced the manufacture of shoe- 
pegs with Leonard Wheeler. Their business did not prove a 
success, and they soon disposed of it, and in 1836 Mr. Farrar 
built a shop and engaged in the manufacture of "nest" or dry 
measures, boxes, sleds, etc., and as the business increased he 
built additions to the shop and a saw mill, and for more than 
forty years he carried on a flourishing business. 

The quarter of a century commencing with 1833 witnessed 
the rise of South Royalston from a little agricultural hamlet to 
an enterprising manufacturing village. In 1833 when the first 
woolen mill was burned. South Royalston contained ten dwelling 
houses, a saw and grist mill and a factory in ashes. In 1865 when 
Royalston celebrated its Centennial anniversary a new factory 
had risen, surrounded by thronging mills, shops and business 
operations, while two meeting-houses, two stores, a depot, public 
house, livery stable and seventy-eight dwelling houses had put 
South Royalston on the map as one of the most vigorous and 
promising New England villages. Here were blended the two 



^■JQ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

great powers of modern times, which control both business and 
population — water power and the railroad. In 1847 the Vermont 
and Massachusetts Railroad was liuilt through South Royals- 
ton, and the first passenger train drawn by the locomotive 
"Wm. Penn," went through the village on the 22d day of De- 
cember, 1847, to Athol. There was some delay in opening the 
road owing to an accident to the first train which consisted of 
two cars loaded with forty tons of railroad iron that had been 
sent from Baldwinville to Athol for the purpose of testing the 
bridges, and which broke through what was known as the first 
bridge between Royalston and Athol, causing the death of seven 
persons, who were on the train and the destruction of the lo- 
comotive "Athol." Soon after the opening of the road, Elisha F. 
Brown was given the position of Station Master, which he held 
until 1863 when he was appointed in charge of the Athol station. 

Royalston attained its greatest population during the decade 
from 1840 to 1850, and it was during this time that the manu- 
facturing business of South Royalston was in a most flourishing 
condition: The Rufus Bullock woolen mill was employing about 
seventy-five hands; Salmon S. Farrar's wooden ware and lumber 
business employed about twenty hands; the Whitmore & Bruce 
saw mill and lumbering business close to the woolen mill was 
purchased by George Whitney and was soon merged into a chair 
shop, which gave employment to a good number of workmen; 
Luther Harrington had a mill and manufactured pine furniture, 
employing some ten hands; another shop occupied by Bemis & 
Jones in the manufacture of shoe pegs in one part, had ten or 
more workmen, while in the upper part of this building Beck- 
with & Stockwell manufactured pine furniture, employing six or 
eight men, and in another shop, close by the dam, the brush 
wood and furniture business employed twelve hands or more. 
At the time the Millers River Bank of Athol was organized, it 
would have been located in South Royalston if Rufus Bullock 
would have consented to take the office of P.resident of the 
bank, and Hiram Albee, who married Mr. Bullock's daughter, 
was slated for cashier; Albee had a store, was the village post- 
master and Trial Justice, and used to hold court in the school 
house on the hill. 

Only a few years after Salmon S. Farrar can.e to South 
Royalston, another poor boy, Caleb W. Day, came from War- 
wick, Mass., walkin:>; from his home, a distance of fourteen 



MERCANTILE AND INDUSTRIAL 471 

miles, with all his belongings done up in a bandana handkerchief, 
and went to work in the woolen mill, After about five years he 
engxged in the manufacture of shoe pegs with others, and in 1862 
bought out the whole business, later he bought out the pine 
furniture business of Beckwith & Stockwell, and was also en- 
gaged n the brush wood business, under the firm name of Up- 
ham & Day. He was engaged in manufacturing in South Roy- 
alston until 1884, when his shops were destroyed by fire. 

Royalston's only manufacturing business of any extent 
is that of the American Woolen Company, which is located on 
the same site as was first occupied by the Royalston Cotton 
& Wool Manufacturing- Company in 1812. The plant was tak- 
en over by the x'\merican Woolen Company in 1908. and dur- 
ing the general depression of business that occurred about 
that time the mills were idle about two 3'ears. In 1910, the 
Company made extensive additions to their plant, erecting 
buildings on the south side of the river, about two hundred 
and thirty feet in length, which with the mills on the north 
side of the river, some two hundred and fifty feet in length, 
forms a plant of large dimensions. This was equipped with a 
complete manufacturing outfit of seventy-five looms. It was 
run a year on fancy suitings, when the i)roduct of the mill was 
changed over to bed blankets, which are now being manufac- 
tured by the Company in large quantity and of a fine quality. 
The plant is now equipped with nine sets of cards, has 2976 
spindles and 82 looms. The mill at the present time (1916) is 
being run to its full capacity, and is now employing one hun- 
dred and fifty hands. This is only one of a large number of 
plants of the American Woolen Company, of which William 
M. Wood is president, and Samuel R. Haines is superintend- 
ent of the woolen division. The managers of the local plant 
are J. J. Henderson, agent, and J. H. Henderson, superin- 
tendent. 



CHAPTER XXIII 
CHURCHES OF SOUTH ROYALSTON 



SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 

The Second Congregational Church of Royalston was 
organized Feb. 22, 1837, with twenty-four original members, and 
was located in the village of South Royalston. 

Governor Bullock in his Centennial address refers as 
follows to this church: 

"In 1837 a Second Congregational Church was organized 
at South Royalston, in a large degree by amicable dis- 
missal from the first. The quite rapid modern growth of 
that village under the stimulation of its water power on 
Miller's River had rendered essential better local conveniences 
for religious fellowship and worship. 

"And now again the dying counsels of Father Lee, the 
counsels of peace, ruled the hour; and the first parish with 
Mr. Perkins, its pastor, co-operated heartily in the enterprise." 

The church building, was erected in 1837 and cost S6,481. 
Luther Harrington was the architect and boss carpenter of 
the building, which was occupied in 1838 free of debt. The 
floor of the porch was one slab of granite forty feet long and 
six feet wide, was quarried in a ledge a mile distant and 
moved in two days with twelve yoke of oxen. 

There were many generous and self-sacrificing givers to 
the church, one Silas Hale mortgaging his large farm to meet 
his share of the building fund. The first pastor of the church 
was Rev. J. F. Stone who only served during 1837 and 1838. 
The second pastor was Rev. S. H. Peckham who served from 
1838 to 1844; he was a prominent minister of the denomina- 
tion in the State and was identified with the Abolition party. 
There have been three hundred and ninety members of the 
church since its organization, and thirty-eight acting pastors, 
of whom twenty-five served one year or more. The longest 
pastorates have been those of Rev. Francis J. Fairbanks, the 
last pastor, for seven years and three months, Rev. S. H. Peck- 



SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 4^3 

ham, the second pastor from 1838 to 1844, and Rev. Walter Rice 
from 1868 to 1874. During the pastorate of Rev. Charles Kendall, 
1854-6, fifty-eight persons united with the church. The 
largest membership was in 1878, during the pastorate of 
Rev. C. L. Twomblin, when there were 124 members. 

There have been seven clerks and ten deacons. 

Hon. Rufus Bullock on his death in 1858 remembered this 
church in his will, the Fifteenth clause of which reads as 
follows: "I give and bequeath to the Second Congregational 
Society of Royalston, at South Royalston, so called, the sum of 
twenty-five hundred dollars ($2500) to be held as a fund, 
the income of which shall be appropriated annually or 
semi-annually to the support of Gospel preaching in said 
Society; and it is my will that a committee, to be chosen by 
said Society, for such purpose, shall act in concurrence with 
my Executors in the investing of said sum, provided, 
that whenever, if ever, said Society shall fail to support 
preaching, or to maintain a regularly organized Society at 
South Royalston, or whenever, if evei-, that part of Royalston 
now known as South Royalston, shall be set ofT from said 
town of Royalston, then this sum of twenty-five hundred 
dollars shall revert to and be paid over to my children or 
their heirs by right of representation." 

The church building was destroyed by fire Oct. 25, 1904. 
Although the Church and Society were small in numbers, 
they were not easily discouraged, for it was only about a 
month after the fire that a meeting was held at which the 
prospects of rebuilding were discussed; indeed it was only a 
few days after the fire that the first contribution to rebuild 
the church was received. It consisted of one dollar, and 
came from a lady 86 years old, Mrs. H. T. Day, to whom 
the amount given meant more than one hundred dollars 
would to many. 

All that there was with which to commence operations 
for rebuilding was the insurance on the old church build- 
ing amounting to $2000. With this as a nucleus the work 
of raising money for the erection of a new church edifice 
was begun, and with the generous contributions of sister 
churches, of former members of the old church scattered in 
various places, and the self-sacrificing efforts of the little 



^J4- HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

company of church members, a sufficient amount was raised 
to begin operations, and the result was that in a little less 
than two years from the time of the fire, on Sept. Uth, 
1906, was dedicated one of the prettiest and best planned 
little churches in this part of the State. The building with its 
furnishings cost a little upward of $6000 , and it was dedicated 
free of debt. The building which has a seating capacity of 
about two hundred, is forty by sixty feet in size, and is 
lighted by electricity, and furnished tastefully. Twelve 
beautiful memorial windows in memory of members who have 
passed away bear the names of Silas Hale, Deacon Jonas M. 
Turner, Sarah Nourse Harrington, Deacon Luther Harrington, 
Matilda Blood Upham, John M. Upham, Homer T. Rice, 
Bertha A. Rice, Deacon Aaron Jones, Mary A. Jones, Dr. 
Henry O. Adams, Roby R. Safford, Orissa W. Safford, 
Jeremiah A. Rich and J. Angeline Townsend. The executive 
building committee having charge of the work consisted of 
Everard B. Hanson, chairman, LlLridge C. Twichell and 
Caleb W. Day. 

The dedication services were attended by a large gather- 
ing of the townspeople and many from Athol, Gardner, 
Baldwinville, Winchendon, Worcester, Fitchburg and other 
places. The exercises opened with an organ prelude by the 
organist, Mrs. Addie Beals, followed by the doxology and the 
invocation by Rev. W. L. Muttart of Phillipston, anthem 
by the choir, reading of the Scriptures by Rev. John C. Eyers 
of Keene, N. H., a former pastor, and prayer by Rev. Mr. 
Muttart. Mrs. Nellie E. Tottingham sang a solo. The 
address of the forenoon was by Rev. B. S. Oilman of Gardner, 
and was followed by a duet by Fred Sherwin of Temple, N. H. 
and Robert Sherwin of Cambridge. The act of dedication 
was performed by Rev. Samuel Holden, the congregation 
all standing, and the prayer of dedication was by Rev. F. J. 
Fairbanks of Royalston Centre. The communion was cele- 
brated by Rev. B. S. Gilman, assisted by Rev. J. A. Bates. 
This, with the benediction, closed the exercises of the forenoon. 
At one o'clock a dinner was served in Whitney Hall, to 
which about two hundred sat down. 

At 2.30 o'clock the afternoon services began. 
The invocation was by Rev. Walter Rice of Agawam, 
who was a pastor of the church thirty-two years before. 



SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 475 

A quartet consisting of Mrs. Nellie E. Tottingham, Mrs. 
Flora Drury, Fred H. Sherwin and Robert Sherwin sang 
"The Lord is my Shepherd." Rev. Walter Rice read Scrip- 
ture selections, Rev. Mr. Jones of Winchendon Centre offered 
prayer and Fred Sherwin sang "Fear Not, O Israel." This 
was followed by addresses by Rev. Richard Peters of Bald- 
winville, and Rev C. C. Merrill of Winchendon, the latter 
bringing the official greetings of the sister churches of the 
conference. 

The pastors of the church with their term of service are 
as follows: Rev. J. F. Stone, 1837 to 1838; Rev. S. H. Peckham 
1838 to 1844; Rev. S. D. Darling, 1844 to 1846; Rev. J. H 
M. Leland, 1847 to 1849; Rev. T. Goodyear, 1849 to 1854 
Rev. Charles Kendall, 1854 to 1856: Rev. J. W. Healey 
1856 to 1857; Rev. E. Seabury, 1858 to 1862; Rev. F. D 
Austin, 1863 to 1867; Pev. Walter Rice, 1868 to 1874; Rev 
J. L. Merrill, 1874 to 1875: Rev. E. G. Stone, 1875 to 1878 
Rev. C. L. Twomllin, 1878 to 1881; Rev. P. F. Barnard 
1881 to 1883; Rev. H. M. Holmes, 1883 to 1884; Rev. F. B 
Knowlton, 1885 to 1886; Rev. E. J. Beach, 1887 to 1890 
Rev. J. W. Hird, 1890 to 1894; Rev. G. E. Chapin, 1894 to 
1895; Rev. John Eyers, 1895 to 1898; Rev. James A. Bates, 
1898 to 1903; Rev. G. W. Lawrence, 1903 to 1904; Rev. W. 
P. Clancy, 1904 to 1906; Rev. Samuel Holden, 1906 to 1908. 
Rev. Francis J. Fairbanks commenced his pastorate in 1908, 
after a pastorate of sixteen years at the First Congregational 
Church, Royalston Centre, and finished his labors as pastor at 
the close of 1916, a term of seven j^ears and three months, 
which was the longest pastorate in the history of the church. 
There was added to the church during this time twenty-nine 
members, most of them on confession of faith. The present 
membership is sixty, thirty seven resident and twenty three 
nou resident. 

Rev. James A. Bates, who was pastor from 1898 to 1903, 
after his retirement from his pastorate made South Royalston 
his home until his death in 1916. 

The bell which hangs in the belfry of the church has this 
inscription : "This bell contains the remnants of the old bell des- 
troyed by fire Oct. 2\ 1904, given to the Second Congregational 
Society of Royalston, Mass., in memory of Colonel George 
Whitney, by his son, George E. Whitney, 1906." 



y7<5 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

THE METHODIST CHURCH OF 
SOUTH ROYALSTON 

The first sermon ever preached in South Royalston by a 
Methodist Episcopal Itinerant was preached by Rev. Ebenezer 
F. Newell about the year 1826 or '27 in the old schoolhouse. 
The next Methodist preaching was by Enoch Bradley. He 
commenced in the autumn of 1829 while stationed at the 
Winchendon and Ashburnham Circuit. Bro. Bradley's preach- 
ing was attended with much effect. He was then engaged in 
a revival of religion then in progress in the town of Phillips- 
ton; this was the commencement of Methodism in that place. 
He preached at the schoolhouse in South Royalston once in 
two weeks for several months, evening appointments. At 
first the house was crowtled with attentive hearers, and the 
prospects bid fair for a glorious work, but by this time Rev. 
Ebenezer Perkins, the Congregational clergyman of the middle 
of the town became much alarmed, visited much from house 
to house and infused much of his own spirit into the people 
telling them that if they did not want to have the Methodists 
get a foothold in the place they must not attend their meetings. 

This course succeeded so well that at the next meeting the 
schoolhouse was fastened up by some person unknown to man. 
A few true friends came to the meeting, the house was 
entered by a window, the door unfastened, and services held, 
but an effectual stop was put upon the prospective revival. 
Among the few who became interested at this time were three 
young men who afterwards became ministers, two Methodists 
and one Baptist. Joseph W. Lewis became a member of the 
New England Conference and Lorenzo W. Blood of the 
Providence Conference, and Andrew Dunn, pastor of the 
Baptist Church at New Boston. Brothers Lewis and Blood 
were the only representatives of Methodism in South Royal- 
ston for five years. In those days the house of Timothy 
Lewis was the only place where Methodist preachers were 
invited. 

In the winter of 1834 or '35 Bro. Horace Moulton, then 
stationed at Winchendon and Phillipston, commenced labor- 
ing in the east part of the town known as City district. 
A small revival attended his labors and a promising class 
was formed, numbering sixteen persons. Thus Methodism 



THE METHODIST CHURCH 477 

was formally organized in South Royalston. Bro. J. W. 
Lewis was the first class leader ever appointed in South 
Royalston, and soon after his appointment joined the New 
England Conference. He was followed by Oliver Hubbard, 
Ammi Stock well, Paul Peirce and Uri Day. 

In 1836 0. Wilder Marcy and S. Pike were appointed to 
the old Winchendon circuit and preached about once in two 
weeks in the City district. In 1837 and '38 Richard Linsey 
was stationed at Winchendon and preached in South Royal- 
ston only once in four weeks. 

From 1839 to 1843 Messrs. Spaulding, Gushing and Bates 
who were stationed at Winchendon during those years preached 
once a month at the City district and South Royalston. 

In the month of April 1843 Ammi Stockwell circulated 
the first subscription paper for Methodist preaching that had 
ever been circulated in South Royalston for this purpose. 

At the next session of the New England Conference Rev. 
W. Smith was appointed to South Royalston and Templeton 
and meetings were held in the schoolhouse. Again an attempt 
was made to keep Methodism out of South Royalston. A 
paper was signed and circulated to turn the Methodists out 
of the schoolhouse, but the project failed. In 1844-45 
Charles Haywood, a local preacher from Gill, was employed 
by the church. The first year of Mr. Haywood's labors a 
^ite for a new church was purchased for $625, Jonathan 
Stockwell, Ira Day, Timothy Lewis and Freeman Stockwell 
payirg for the lot. 

At the second Quarterly Conference of 1846, "The ex- 
pedior.ce of building a Meeting House being introduced and 
discussed it was voted that there be a Church Meeting called 
on Monday Aug. 31st., the object of which shall be to con- 
verse together on the practicability of building a Meeting 
House, and the propriety of holding a grove meeting." 
We find no record of the meeting of Aug. 31, but at the 3d. 
Quarterly Conference held Nov. 23, 1846 we find it recorded 
that, "Bro. Olds of Ashburnham who had been previously 
employed by the Society to draft a model for a Meeting 
House being prcsenc at this stage of the Conference exhibited 
his plans and draft together with an estimate of what the 
expense of building would be. A vote was passed approving 
the general i-lan as drafted by Brother Olds. The meeting 



4.J8 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

house as voted was built during the year 1847 at a cost of 
two thousand five hundred and fifty dollars. 

Rev. Pliny Wood was appointed as pastor of the church 
in 1846 and re-appointed in 1847. At this time the number 
of members in full connection was thirty-five. 

On the 13th of July the frame of the church was raised 
with appropriate religious services and on the 17th of 
January 1848 was dedicated, the sermon being preached 
by Rev. James Porter, Presiding Elder, from Acts, 28th 
chapter, 22d verse. The Sunday school this year numbered 
about sixty. 

The following Brethren were appointed I^y the Presiding 
Elder to the oflfice of Trustees in the church: Jonathan 
Stockwell, Ammi Stockwell, Alexander Webster, Timothy 
Lewis, Freeman Stockwell, — Day, Uri Day, John Turner and 
Ainsworth Knight. 

The pastors following Rev. Mr. Wood were: Rev. David 
Kilburn, 1848, Rev. Wm. F. La Count, 1849, '50, Rev. 
Jonathan L. Estey, 1851, '52, Rev. Asa Barnes, 1853, '54, 
Rev. Joseph Woodbury, 1855, Rev. Jarvis Wilson, 1856, 
Rev. James Tucker, 1857, Rev. Albert Gould, 1858, Rev. 
James Geratt and Rev. E. D. Winslow, 1859, Rev. Porter M. 
Vinton, 1860, Rev. T. C. Potter, 1861, '62, Rev. Mr. Carter, 
1863, Rev. F. Marsh and Rev. Phil Gorton, 1864, Rev. T. W. 
Lewis and Rev. B. M. Smith, 1865, Rev. Wm. Merrill, 1866, 
Rev. Mr. Bassett, 1869, Rev. E. A. Howard, 1870, Rev. N. 
F. Stevens, 1871, Rev. John Oldham, 1872, Rev. E. P. Gibbs, 
1873, '74, Rev. Mr. Price, 1875, Rev. Charies Haywood, 1878, 
Rev. William Ferguson, 1878, Rev. Wm. G. Grant, 1879, Rev. 
F. S. Rogers, 1880, '81, Rev. P. K. Stratton, 1882, '83, Rev. 
Arthur A. Graves, 1884, Rev. Mr. Hobbs, 1885 and Rev. Mr. 
Bessie, 1886. 

There was no regular preaching for several years and in 
1892 the remaining members of the South Royalston Church 
were transferred to the Phillipston and Athol churches. 



CATHOLIC CHURCH 

R. J. J. McCoy in his History of the Diocese of Spring- 
field in "The Catholic Church in New England" published in 



THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 479 

1899, says of the Catholics of this section of Massachusetts: 
"Father Fitton says with the building of the Boston & 
Albany Railroad west the Irish came to the towns along the 
line, and to some of the neighboring towns, among which he 
named Templeton." There must have been CathoHcs in 
Otter River in 1837, for whom Father Fitton had a "station." 
Father Gibson who was pastor at Worcester in 1851, and had 
charge of Fitchburg and surrounding towns, said mass in the 
house of Patrick O'Brien which stood near the foundry in 
Otter River. Father Gibson celebrated mass in Mr. O'Brien's 
house at intervals of once every three months until 1854, with 
the exception of two occasions, on one of which mass was 
said in the woods, and at another time in a little school- 
house on the Winchendon Road. 

In 1853 Father Gibson began the building of St. Martin's 
Church. It was dedicated in 1854 and the first mass was 
said therein by Father Gibson. A cross was put upon the 
church before the dedication, and a short time afterwards 
the cross was cut down by the Know Nothings. 

With the spring of 1855 Rev. Edward Turpin came as 
curate, and mass was said more frequently. From February 
to the June of 1857 mass was celebrated every fortnight in 
St. Martin's Church. In January 1856 Rev. Edward Turpin 
became pastor at Fitchburg and his brother Father Henry 
Turpin said mass every fortnight at Otter River. 

The people increased in numbers so rapidly that in 1864 Otter 
River was made a parish by itself and Rev. Thomas H. Bannon 
became the resident pastor. He had charge of Otter River ani.1 
the surrounding country. He said mass every second Sunday, 
the alternate Sunday being given to the Missions. He was 
transferred to Blackstone in 1867,' and May 11th of that year 
Rev. William Orr came as his successor. The Parish Mission 
then embraced Otter River, Ashburnham, Hubbardston, 
Royalston, Westminster, Petersham, Orange and Gardner. 
Father Orr was succeeded June 4, 1869 by Rev. Richard P. 
Donovan, who in turn was followed in 1870 by Rev, Patrick 
McManus. In August 1871 Rev. Charles McManus came as 
his successor. 

The pastors since then have been Rev. Robert Walsh, 
Rev. Thomas F. Murphy, Rev. Thomas Reynolds, Rev. James 
Norris, Rev. Thomas E. Purcell, Rev. James Prendergast, 



480 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Rev. James J. Ho\vard, Rev. T. C. O'Connor and Rev. P. 
J. Meehan who has been the pastor since 1908. We are 
giving to some extent the history of the Otter River Church, 
as it has been the church home of the Cathohcs of Royalston 
for more than half a century. 

Father Gibson reported three hundred railroad men at 
South Royalston in 1846, the most of whom were Catholics. 

Father John F. Lehy of Holy Cross College, Worcester 
says "The Catholics in South Royalston were attended by 
Father Gibson of Worcester and Father Turpin of Fitchburg 
and went to mass in Otter River." He says that when he 
was a boy there was about a dozen families in South Royal- 
ston who were Catholics besides the mill help. His father, 
Geoffrey Lehy, was one of the first Catholics in South Royal- 
ston, and he remembers that Father Turpin held services at 
his home, as did Father Welch and Father Bannon. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

SONS OF SOUTH ROYALSTON 

There are Sons of South Royalston, who have gone out 
from this little country village and attained distinction and 
prominence in the various pi-ofessions and callings that they 
chose for their life's work. We shall in these pages tell 
something of what they have accomplished. 



WILLIAM CLARK PECKHAM 

William Clark Peckham, who has attained distinction as 
a physicist and educator, was born at South Royalston, 
Aug. 13, 1841, a son of Samuel Rowland and Sarah (Clark) 
Peckham. Kis father, the second minister of the Congrega- 
tional churcli of South Royalston, belonged to the Petersham, 
Mass., branch of the Peckhams, and was born in 
Petersham, Sept. 19, 1793 and died in Westminster, Mass., 
Jan. 23, 1864. His mother, Sarah Clark, was the daughter of 
Eliezer and Sarah Clark of Easthampton, Mass. 

William Clark Peckham received his preparatory education 
at the Lawrence Academy, Groton, Mass. from 1860-63. 
During this period from 1861-62 he served as a private in the 
23d regiment Massachusetts volunteers at Roanoke Island and 
Newbern, N. C. Entering Amherst College, he was graduated 
A. B. in 1867, and A. M. in 1870. In 1871-72 he took 
special studies at the Union Theological Seminary, in New 
York City. After his collegiate course he taught, 1867-68 as 
principal of Leicester Academy, Mass., and 1868-70 Williston 
Seminary, at Easthampton, Mass. During 1870-71 he trav- 
elled around the world. On his return he commenced his 
educational work in Brooklyn, N. Y. in Lockwood's Academy, 
now Adelphi College, where he is still professor of physics. 
Professor Peckham is prominent in Brooklyn educational 
circles, a beloved and inspiring teacher and very successful 
in bringing scientific subjects before popular audiences. 
He has been for many years a contributor to papers and 
periodicals, among others the Atnerican Electrical World, the 



4S2 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

Electrical Engineer and Century Magazine. He has been 
connected with the Scientific American since 1897. He is a 
fellow of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, and 
president of its department of photography, and of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is 
also an associate member of the American Institute of Electri- 
cal Engineers. Professor Peckham is one of the most success- 
ful investigators of the X-ray phenomena in the United 
States, and is considered an authority on the subject of 
liquid air, both as an investigator and lecturer. Professor 
Peckham was married in Kingston, Mass., Jan. 1, 1868 to 
Katalena, daughter of John and Maria (Kellogg) Whittier. 
They have one daughter, Clara Isabel (Peckham) Pashley. 

Professor Peckham, in a letter to the author, thus de- 
scribes his father's family in South Royalston: "My father 
and mother had six children, my next older brother and 
myself being born in Royalston. He, Samuel H. Peckham, Jr. 
is still alive. My brother, John Smith Peckham, is also 
living in Fort Worth, Texas. We three were all in the 
service, 1861-65 in Mass. Regiments. John has lived in the 
South ever since the war. The first negro I ever saw was in 
the kitchen at Royalston one evening, sitting by the side of 
the stove. I was hustled off to bed quickly. In the morning 
he was gone. My father was in the 'Underground Railroad' 
and transmitted his man in the night to the minister cf 
Ashburnham or At hoi, on his way to Canada and freedom. 
It is not strange that three of the four sons enlisted in the 
first year of the war. We had it in the blood. I think that 
father would have driven us out if we had not gone of our 
own volition. And there were many such families." 



CHESTER TWITCHELL STOCKWELL 

One of the most distinguished sons of Royalston, who was 
recognized in his profession, by his brother members, as a 
leader, and one of the most prominent members of that 
profession, and who by his investigations and writings 
attained a reputation not merely local, but national and even 
international, was Chester Twitchell Stockwell. 



SONS OF SOUTH ROYALSTON 483 

He was born in Royalston Sept. 5, 1841, a son of Emmons 
and Elvira (Wood) Stockwell. He attended the common and 
high schools of Royalston and Winchendon, Mass., and a 
business college in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He was engaged in 
commercial pursuits from 1863 to 1867 and afterwards in 
newspaper work on the Iowa State Register and other papers 
in Iowa. He also studied medicine for a short time, and then 
engaged in the study of dentistry, beginning his professional 
career as a dentist in Des Moines, the capital city of Iowa, in 
1872, After three or four years his health failed utterly and 
he was compelled to seek a new country. He located in 
Springfield, Mass. about 1875, from which time until his 
death he was a leader in his profession. In 1875 he was made 
Secretary of the old Connecticut Valley Dental Society, and 
was one of the founc'ers of the New England Journal of 
Dentistry, of which he was the leading editor. 

A brother meml)er of his profession says of him: "He was 
a skilful, sane and safe practicing dentist. He was a student 
and an investigator, a writer of ability, and a scientist in the 
full meaning of that much abused word. The Study Club of 
Springfield was a success, the New England Dental Journal, 
which he so ably edited, and the numerous practical and 
scientific papers he gave to the profession through its columns, 
awakened keen interest and discussion in societies and 
scientific journals in this and foreign countries." 

On the evening of Oct. 18, 1904 there was tendered to Dr. 
Stockwell in the Massasoit Hotel of Springfield a complimen- 
tary banquet by his brother practitioners and many friends, of 
which the Springfield Republican said: "Dr. Chester Twitchell 
Stockwell was the recipient last evening of such recognition 
of notable service as rarely comes to a man while he is yet 
alive. The dinner was given in recognition of the great 
service done by Dr. Stockwell to dentistry as a science in 
bringing clearly before the world the germ theory of dental 
decay, which since his epoch-making paper has become every- 
where recognized as the truth, upsetting and forever doing 
away with the old theory of acids as the cause of destruction." 
At the close of the bancjuet there was presented to him a 
book-case filled with some sixty volumes of scientific publica- 
tions. 



484- HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Addresses by eminent members of the dental profession, 
scientific men, and literary and business friends, teeming with 
words of fine eulogy, showed the feeling of the company 
towards its honored guest. There was so much interest 
manifested in this affair that later a fine souvenir volume 
containing all the proceedings of the evening was printed and 
distributed. 

In addition to his writings which appeared in many dental 
and scientific journals he was the author of three books 
dealing with religion and philosophy, "New Modes of Thought," 
"The New Materialism and the New Pantheism," and "The 
Evolution of Immortality." One of the chief features of the 
21st Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Dental Association 
held in Springfield, Mass. Get. 14, 1915 was the dedication of 
a handsome memorial fountain to Dr. Chester Twitchell Stock- 
well in the rose gardens of Forest Park. The tablet of bronze 
attached to this memorial records the fact that he was a 
dentist, student, author, philosopher, and has this te^timoni.il 
inscribed upon it: 

"His life was gentle, and the elements 

So mixed in him that nature might stand up 

And say to all the world: 

'This was a man.' " 



HON. FRED WILDER CROSS 

Fred Wilder Cross, the subject of this sketch, was born in 
the village of South Royalston in the house where he now 
resides, Sept. 15, 1868. His father. Wilder Cross, was a 
native of Swanzey, N. H., a musician of considerable ability, 
and for several years leader of the South Royalston Brass 
Band. His mother, Rosanna A. (Knights) Cross was born 
in the neighboring town of Phillipston and is still living. 
Both of his parents were of old American stock. 

He received his early education in the public schools of 
his native village. After leaving school, he was for several 
years an employee of the George Whitney Woolen Company 
and later of the Fitchburg Railroad Co. In September 1893 
he entered the sophomore class at Cushing Academy from 
which institution he graduated in 1896. In the fall of 1896 




FRED W. CROSS 



SONS OF SOUTH ROYALSTON 485 

he entered Williams College and graduated in the class of 
1900. During his college career he distinguished himself 
chiefly in public speaking and scholarship. In 1897 he won 
the first prize for freshman oratory. In 1898 he took the 
general prize in the Moonlight Oratorical contest, and the 
Rice prize for scholarship. In 1899 he secured the first prize in 
the Adelphic Union prize debate, and for excellence in scholar- 
ship was made a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. 
In 1900 he was awarded a Graves Essay prize, the Graves 
Oratorical Prize, the Dewey Prize for Commencement oratory 
and the Prize for Prizes, all the above awards aggregating $350. 
Besides holding numerous class offices he was president of the 
Philotectinian Society, and in his senior year president of the 
Adelphic Union. He was also a member of the Gargoyle 
Society. 

After graduating from Williams, he was for one year 
instructor in Latin and History at Black Hall School, 
Black Hall, Conn, and five years principal of the high school 
at Palmer, Mass. During his residence in the latter place 
he was for three years president of the Palmer Historical 
Society. In 1906 filial duties and somewhat impaired health 
caused him to return to his native town, but since his return 
he has continued active in public and educational affairs. 
From 1907 to 1909 he served on the Royalstcn School 
Board. During the school year 1909 — 1910 he was principal 
of Templeton High School. From 1910 to 1913 he was 
principal of the South Royalston schools besides managing 
his home farm and doing a large amount of conveyancing 
and iiension and probate work. In 1906 he was commis- 
sioned Justice of the Peace and Notary Public, which offices 
he holds at the present time. 

Mr. Cross's natural bent toward the study of history has 
been followed by an especial interest in the story of the Civil 
War. During the past dozen years he has made several 
trips to Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia for the express 
purpose of visiting and studying the battlefields that dot 
that region. His travels have taken him over the fields of 
Fi:-st Bull Run, Fair Oaks, the Seven Days Battles, Second 
Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettys- 
burg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Drury's Bluff, Cold 
Harbor and Petersburg. In addition to an extensive history 



^c^ HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

library he has a large collection of relics and treasures which 
he has brought from battlefields. 

Since the year of his graduation from college he has 
delivered over twenty Memorial Day Orations besides nu- 
merous addresses before educational, historical and military 
societies. His latest work has been the compilation of the 
military history of his native town. In August 1901 he 
married Ida May Kimball, daughter of Rev. Henry S. 
Kimball of Troy, N. H. They have two daughters: Bertha 
May born Oct. 19, 1902 and Dorothy Kimball Oct. 26, 1906. 
He gave the Historical Address at the mOth Anniversary of 
Royalston in 1915. In November, 1913, Mr. Cross was elected 
Representative from the First Worcester District to the General 
Court of Massachusetts as a Progressive. He immediately dis- 
tinguished himself in debate and in his service on the Com- 
mittee on Education, of which he was a member. Near the 
close of his first term in the House, the vSpringfield Republican 
said of him : "Mr. Cross of Royalston, Progressive, has made a 
mark as a new member. He is one of the most forceful and 
direct members in making points. He never wearies the 
House or takes more than the necessary time in which to put in his 
reasoning." He was also repeatedly commended by the Boston 
and local papers for his good sense, independence and non- 
partisanship. In the Fall of 1914 he was re-elected, this being 
the first time that Royalston had sent a representative two terms 
in succession for sixty years. Thus to Mr. Cross fell the honor 
of representing the district in the Legislature on the One Hun- 
dred and F-iftieth Anniversary of the incorporation of Royals- 
ton. He was again re-elected to represent the First Worcester 
District in the House for the year 1916, and in the Fall of that 
year received still higher honor in being elected as Senator for 
the Fourth Worcester Senatorial District by a large majority, 
being the fourth citizen of Royalston, in the one hundred and 
fifty years' history of the tovA'u, to be elected to the Massachu- 
setts Senate. 



FREDERICK LYSANDER DRURY 

Frederick Lysander Drury, son of Ehsha and Lueinda 
(Stoddard) Drury, was born in Readsboro, Vt., April 14, 
1856. His father, Elisha, was of the eighth generation from 




FREDERICK L. DRURY 



SONS OF SOUTH ROY ALSTON 487 

his ancestor, Hugh Drury, who came to this country from 
England in the ship Abigail in the year 1635 at the age of 
nineteen. 

Elisha Drury was a farmer and woodworker, residing 
successively in Winchendon, Mass., Fitzwilliam, N. H., and 
Readsboro, Vt., in which latter place Frederick was born. 

His father's death led his Imother to remove to South 
Royalston, Mass. when the child was very young, and it was 
in the public schools of that village that Frederick and his 
two older brothers Edwin and Leander received their educa- 
tion. 

In 1875, at the age of nineteen he journeyed to Boston and 
secured employment in a fancy goods store where he remained 
about two years. In 1877 he went to Fitchburg to enter 
the employ of Walter P. Guy in the grocery business, 
where by perseverance and industry he succeeded in saving 
his earnings to such good advantage that in 1886 he was 
able to lease a hotel in the heart of the city, which under the 
name of the "Drury House," he conducted with marked success 
for four years. 

In 1890, in company with Ezra Coleman, he purchased 
the grocery store which had given him his first start in the 
city, and in 1900 acquired his partner's interest and became 
sole proprietor of what had then become and still is Fitch- 
burgh's leading grocery establishment. 

On Sept. 25, 1878, soon after going to Fitchburg, he 
married Flora Estelle Sherwin, daughter of Addison and 
Amanda (Partridge) Sherwin of South Royalston. They have 
two sons, Leon Arthur, born Oct. 23, 1880 and Ralph Sherwin, 
born Jan. 10, 1890. Both are graduates of the Fitchburg 
High School and Brown University, and are now associated 
with their father in business under the firm name of F. L. 
Drury and Sons. 

Leon married Daza Page Mowry of Providence, R. I., 
a graduate of Brown University on Oct. 12, 1904, and they 
have two children, Harriet born Oct. 5, 1907 and Leon Arthur, 
Jr. born Jan. 13, 1911. 

Ralph married Florence Earns worth of Leomin.ster, Mass., 
a graduate of Mt. Holyoke College, May 2, 1913. 

Frederick L. Drury is one of Fitchburg's best known 
citizens, having been president of the Fitchburg Merchants' 



488 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

Association, Vice-President of the Massachusetts Retail Grocers' 
Association, Director in the Fitchburg Co-operative Bank, and 
prominent in many civic organizations. He is a member of the 
Aurora Lodge A. F. & A. M., Thomas Royal Arch Chapter of 
Masons, Jerusalem Commander}^ Knights Templars, Aleppo 
Temple, Mystic Shrine, Lady Emma Chapter Eastern Star, 
Mt. Roulstone Lodge of Odd Fellows, and E. Victoria Morse 
Lodge Daughters of Rebeckah. 

He is a prominent member of the Rollstone Congrega- 
tional Church, having served as a member of its Finance Com- 
mittee for many yearsJ 

In politics he has always been a staunch Republican, but 
strict attention to business has precluded his acceptance of 
any political office. 



GEOFFREY B. LEHY 

One of the most successful business men that South 
Royalston has ever sent out is Geoffrey B. Lehy; he was born 
in South Royalston, September, 1855. His early education was 
obtained in the South Royalston schools, plus one year in 
Holy Cross College. To this was added (he says) what the 
world gave me, as it gives to all. 

About 1879 he went to Leominster, Mass., with Leander 
W. Jones and engaged in the grocery business. The firm was 
Jones & Lehy; Mr. Jones was obliged to sell out on account 
of his health, and a Mr. John Goss bought him out, the 
firm becoming Lehy & Goss. Mr. Goss died about two 
years later, and his brother Michael F. Lehy was with him 
and continued about two years, when they sold out to local 
parties, and Geoffrey sold goods on the road for a Fitchburg 
produce house, and later sold groceries for Henry Callender & 
Co. of Boston, wholesale grocers. He left this position and 
purchased an interest in the firm of F. L. Hale & Co., 
produce dealers. Mr. Hale was one of those who were lost 
on the steamer City of Columbus when she sank off Gay 
Head. 

The firm then became Fales & Lehy and continued about 
seven years, when Mr. Lehy sold out to Mr. Fales and 
associated himself with W. S. Quimby and M. A. Packer as 




GEOFFREY B. LEHY 



SONS OF SOUTH ROYALSTON 489 

W. S. Quimby & Co., dealers in butter, cheese and eggs. 
After one year Mr. Packer retired, and the partnership was 
changed to a corporation, the W. S. Quimby Co. In 1900 
the W. S. Quimby Co. changed to the tea and coffee business 
and so continues to-day. Mr. Lehy has always been president 
of the company. 

In 1901 he was elected president of the Fruit and Produce 
Exchange, and served one year. He is at present one of 
the trustees of the surplus fund of that organization, also 
a trustee of the real estate of the Boston Chamber of Com- 
merce. He was the first president of the Boston City Club, 
an organization of thirty-two hundred men which has been of 
much civic and social benefit. His term of office was from the 
inception of the club throughout its organization, a term of 
five consecutive years. July 1, 1909 he was appointed by 
Governor Draper a member of the Finance Commission 
for the City of Boston for a term of one year, and in July 
1910 he was re-appointed by Governor Draper for a term of 
five years. 

He married Abbie M. Lewis of South Royalston, a daughter 
of Hugh and Ellen Lewis. 



JOHN F. LEHY 

John F. Lehy, one of South Koyalston's most distinguished 
sons in the educational world, was born in South Royalston, 
Nov. 7, 1850, a son of Geoffrey and Eliza (Kelly) Lehy. 
He received his early education in private schools and at the 
Templeton High School. He entered Holy Cross College at 
Worcester, Mass. in 1872, and in 1874 became a member of the 
Society of Jesus, and was ordained to the Roman Catholic 
priesthood in 1887. 

He was Professor of Mathematics at Holy Cross College 
from 1879 to 1884, at Georgetown University 1887, '88 and 
Woodstock College 1892, '93; was Vice-President of Gonzaga 
College, Washington, D. C., 1889, '90 and President of Hob- 
Cross College from 1895 to 1901, at Woodstock College 1901 
to 1904 and Boston College 1904 to 1906, since which time 
he has been treasurer of Holy Cross College. 



490 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

WILLIAM H. BULLARD 

William H. Bullard, one of the successful sons of South 
Royalston was born in that village Sept. 25, 1856. When 
four years old his parents moved to Athol where the greater 
part of his school life was spent. 

He attended the Athol High School four years, from 1869 
to 1873, walking to and from school a distance of over three 
miles each way. He attended New Salem Academy in 1874- 
75, and taught several terms of school in Petersham Mass., 
and Ashuelot and Winchester, N. H. 

In 1875 he entered the employ of Parmenter & Carruth, 
dry goods and carpet detilers in Athol. He received fifty 
dollars and board for the first year's salary. 

In 1881 he moved to Hclyoke where he continued as dry 
goods clerk until 1887, when he went into business for him- 
self; He was successful in this, and some years later gave 
up the retail business and gave his attention to the dry goods 
and notions jobbing business, which also proved successful. 

In December 1903, Mr. Bullard organized and had in- 
corporated the Bullard Thread Co., of which he was chosen 
Agent and Treasurer, which positions he continues to hold 
at the present time. The products of the Company are 
widely known and are sold in every state and territory in 
the country. 

He is active in the business and social affairs of his adopted 
city, has been President of the Holyoke Board of Trade 
several terms, is a member of the Holyoke Canoe Club, the 
Holyoke Club, and several other organizations and societies. 
He was elected president of the New Salem Academy Alumni 
Association in 1912 and held that office for several years. 
He has been a prominent candidate for Mayor of Holyoke. 

He married Evelyn B. Tandy of Koyalston Aug. 25, 1880. 



J. HERBERT KING 

J. Herbert King, son of John King, was born in South 
Royalston June 20, 1856, where he lived until sixteen years 
years of age when he went to Fitchburg to attend the High 
School, remaining there during one school year; he then went 




WILLIAM H. BULLARD 



SONS OF SOUTH ROY ALSTON 491 

to Athol and took a position in the dry goods store of Par- 
menter & Tower. 

After a short time at this place he went to Hartford, 
Conn., rounding out an experience of about three years in 
the dry goods business. About thi« time he was taken with 
the "Go west, young man" fever, which caused him to migrate 
to Colorado, where he remained about four years, the latter 
part of the time of which he was engaged in the sheep rais- 
ing buvsiness. His father was taken seriously ill and at his 
request he returned to Massachusetts. 

On Oct. 25, he was married to Miss Nellie M. Hitchcock 
of Southlnidge, Mass., and in the fall of 1882 they moved 
to Baldwinville which was their home for about thirty years, 
all of which time he was engaged in the chair business. In 
1912 he moved to Gardner which has since been his home, 
and where he is employed in the Brown Bros.' chair factory. 
He has two children: Mary B. born in 1888 and Herbert L. 
born in 18G2. ^Yhile in South Royalston he was a member 
of the Congregational Church, and in Baldwinville of the 
Baptist. He was also a member of the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen and the Odd Fellows and Good Templai" 
organizations in Baldwinville. 



FRED D. WEEKS 

Fred D. Weel's was born in Warwick, Mass. July 15, 1865, 
received his education in the schools of South Royalston and 
Cushing Academy, Ashburnham. He was superintendent 
of the George Whitney Woolen Mill in South Royalston, 
the Baltic Mills at Fitchburg and mills in Enfield, N. H. 

He established the F. D. Weeks Extracting Co. at Shirley, 
Mass., and is also president and treasurer of the Gould 
Manufacturing Co. at the same place. He served several 
years as Selectman, Assessor and Overseer of the Poor and 
Chairman of the Board of Water Commissioners. He is a 
member of the Odd Fellows. He has been twice married, 
first to Mary Sweeney and second Emmaline French. Has 
three children. 



CHAPTER XXV 
BIOGRAPHICAL 



EDWARD A. CARPENTER 

Among the prominent citizens of Royalston whose memory- 
it is a delight to honor, should be placed the name of Edward 
A. Carpenter. Although not a "native born," he was as deeply 
interested in the welfare and development of the town as any 
one could be. He was born in Walpole, N. H., on July 22, 1846. 
His parents, Albert H. and Mary Wilder Carpenter, were most 
estimable people of sturdy New England stock, with an ances- 
tral record running back into early pioneer history. His edu- 
cation was acquired in the pubHc schools in Walpole and at 
Bellows Falls, Vt. When the civil war came, young Carpenter's 
patriotic ardor was stirred to the deep and he enlisted and gave 
efficient service in Co. H., 15th N. H. Volunteers, and filled out 
the term of his enlistment in the valiant service of this heroic 
regiment during the Vicksburg and Port Hudson campaign. 
On his return north from the army he located at Athol, Mass., 
being engaged in the manfacturing of shoe pegs, then an impor- 
tant industry, conducted by his uncle, Mr. George Wilder. 
Two years later he removed to South Royalston and for twenty- 
one years was employed in the Brush and Shoe Peg factory of 
Mr. Caleb W. Day. The disastrous fire of 1884 burning down 
the factory, Mr. Carpenter engaged in the grocery business with 
Deacon Jonas M. Turner for about a year. In 1886 in company 
with Mr. F. S. French, who had been a close business asso- 
ciate for years, he removed to North Reading, Mass., where 
the general store of Obadiah Walker was bought and the firm 
of Carpenter and French was a synonym for just methods of 
dealing. For nineteen years these partners worked faithfully 
together, until October 1, 1905, when owing to the ill health 
of Mr. French, Mr. Carpenter bought out his interest and con- 
ducted the business alone until the time of the closing of his 
eventful career. It is not too much to say that it was due to 
the peculiar genius in business of Mr. Carpenter during his 



w 

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a 



n 

> 

W 

z 

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EDWARD A. CARPENTER 493 

business life in North Reading, evinced by his executive ability, 
industry and hard work, that success was warranted. 

Prior to removal to North Reading, Mr. Carpenter was an 
enthusiastic school committee, efficient constable, and most 
faithful tax collector for the town of Royalston and hi.s admira- 
tion and loyalty for the town never ceased, as he kept in touch 
with all vital affairs to the date of his decease. He joined the 
Second Congregational Church of South Royalston in 1870, 
and retained his membership from henceforth never failing 
financially, or otherwise, to honor the church. The basic prin- 
cipals of his Christian life ever abounded in sympathy, charity 
and in benevolence. While living in North Reading he was a 
continuous helper in all practical church work and an advisor 
and loyal friend and brother to every pastor. Mr. Carpenter 
was a member of Parker Post, No. 123, G. A. R., of Athol, Mass., 
but on going to North Reading he relinquished his member- 
ship though retaining loyal interest in all Memorial events of 
the volunteer soldiery. He was marshal of every Memorial 
Day celebration, and was so chosen by the united voice of the 
veterans and people in North Reading. His personality and 
ability was such that he was in constant demand for office and 
he acquiesced in serving the common weal of the town, more 
often than otherwise, at the sacrifice of his own personal interests. 

Chairman of the Board of Selectmen and Overseer of the 
Poor, Treasurer of North Reading Grange, President of the 
Board of Trade, Trustee of the Public Librar}^ Director of the 
First National Bank and Trustee of Mechanics Savings Bank 
of Reading, and one of the twelve organizers of the first named. 
He was also a member of the Men's Good Fellowship club of 
Reading, and Assistant Postmaster of North Reading for twenty- 
six years. Mr. Carpenter was married to Miss Effie F. Brooks 
of South Royalston in 1868; one son, Albert Eugene, was the 
fruit of this union, but the parents' hearts were saddened by 
his death in 1872. Several years afterwards, a daughter, Annie 
C, was adopted and for all of subsequent life the home life was 
of an ideal character. Miss Carpenter was married some years 
ago to Mr. Charles F. Burditt of North Reading, who later 
entered into the employ of Mr. Carpenter. Mr. and Mrs. Burditt 
have three children, two sons and one daughter. One of the 
saddest blows to the town of North Reading was the quick 
demise of Mr. Carpenter. The shock was sudden and numbed 



494 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

the senses of all. The funeral services were hekl at the Union 
Congregational church in North Reading on Sunday, Novem- 
ber 15, 1914, and was the largest in attendance and sympathetic 
interest, ever held in the town. The floral tributes were abun- 
ant and from organizations, business friends and citizens gen- 
erally, thus evincing the truest sentiments of the loved and 
honored dead. The services were conducted by his friend and 
former pastor, Rev. Eugene E. Colburn, Yarmouth, Mass., 
who also conducted the funeral services at South Royalston 
the day following. Thus the sterling, ethical and religious 
uprightness of Mr. Edward A. Carpenter will stand as a per- 
petual memory in the communities in which he dwelt. 



EVERARD B. HANSON 

Everard B. Hanson was born in China, Maine, Oct. 25, 185.". 
a son of Elihu and Minerva (Starrett) Hanson. Fe received 
his education in the graded and high schools of China and 
Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill, Maine. After grad- 
uating he engaged in farming, teaching and surveying until 
1882, when he moved to Athol, Mass., where he was employed 
in the shops of his uncle, L. S. Starrett, for four or five years 
when on account of ill health he was obliged to give up work 
in the shops. For several years he was in the employ of the 
Fitchburg Railroad Co., at Athol and Keene, N. H., until 1891 
when he removed to South Royalston and was employed by 
the George Whitney Woolen Co., as bookkeeper, superinten- 
dent and agent till 1907. When the American W^oolen Co. 
purchased the mills he was retained by that company as agent 
and superintendent, which position he continued to hold 
for a number of years. 

After coming to South Royalston Mr. Hanson was 
prominently identified with the interests of the village and of 
the town. In 1909 he erected green houses for the growing of 
cucumbers and flowers for the wholesale markets, which were 
the only green houses in the town. He served the town in 
several town offices and on important committees. He was a 
member of the school committee three years, was town 
auditor several years, a member of the finance and appropri- 
ation committee since it was inaugurated, was chairman of 



EVERARD B. HANSON 495 

the committee to relniild the Second Congregational church, 
school house and hall after the disastrous fire in 1904, and also 
on the committee to l)uild the Phinehas S. Newton library. He 
was chairman of the Prudential Committee and Clerk of 
the Second Congregational church for many years. He was a 
prominent Mason having been a Master Mason in Dirigo Lodge 
China, Maine, in 1882; was Worshipful Master of Star Lodge 
Athol, in 1902-1903; Eminent Commander of Athol Comman- 
dery, Knights Templars, in 1905, and was a 32d Degree Mason. 
He was a charter member of Artisan Lodge Ancient Order United 
Workmen; was commissioned a Justice of the Peace in 1891, a 
Notary Public in 1894 and so continued to the time of 
his death, and was also a Special Justice to solemnize marriages. 
He was married April 16, 1876, to Miss Lizzie E. Tucker 
of China, Maine, who died in Royalston in 1903. Three chil- 
dren were born to them : John Tucker, who died 1898; Viola M., 
who married Arthur C. Oliver of Athol; and Ruth E., who married 
Stanley F. Smith of Athol. He married (2) Mrs. Mary A. Rowe 
Oct. 25, 1904. He died at the hospital in Northampton, Feb. 
8, 1915. 



RUEL ROBY SAFFORD 

Ruel Roby Safford, for nearly a third of a century one of 
the most prominent citizens of South Royalston, was born in 
Lancaster, Mass., in 1821. He went to Fitchburg when a 
young man and was engaged in the woolen lousiness, where he 
met and married Orissa Wood Maynard of Vermont. While 
in Fitchburg he was prominent as an Abolitionist and during 
his whole life was an indefatigable worker for the cause of tem- 
perance. He was a good singer and devoted much time to 
music, singing in church choirs and serving as president of vari- 
ous musical societies. He was one of the members of the Second 
Congregational Society of Fitchburg who left their church be- 
cause it would not put itself on record as opposed to Slavery, 
and organized the Trinitarian church in April, 1843. The choir 
of that church was composed of men and women of the parish 
and Mr. Safford was the first choirister. He was described as 
l)cing a man of splendid voice who sang "with the spirit and 
with the understanding." The choir was a notable one in town, 
and the writer of a sketch of that church and its choir says: 



496 HISTORY OF KOYALSTON 

"Any one who had seen and heard its leader, Roby Safford, 
with head thrown back and face aglow, sing that grand old 
hymn, 'While Shepherds watched their flocks by night,' and 
others of those inspired and inspiring words and tunes, could 
not soon forget them," He was also a member of the Masonic 
fraternity. In 1862 he moved to South Royalston to engage 
in the manufacture of woolens in the Whitney Woolen mill. 
He took an active part in the town affairs of Royalston, was a 
member of the school committee several years and held other 
town offices. He retired from business in 1878 and died June 
16, 1892; his wife died April 23, 1904. 

The children of Ruel Roby and Orissa (Maynard) Safford 
were: Maria 0., who married Charles A. King of Royalston, 
they are now living in Worcester; William R., married Anna 
King of Royalston and they reside in Athol; Henry A., was a 
merchant in South Royalston and died from a gunshot wound 
in 1883; Mary E., married S. A. Sargent of Utica, N. Y., and 
after his death Henry Totingham, who died in Worcester in 
1914, she still resides in Worcester; Edward, died when a child; 
Myra A., married Dana M. Dustan a former teacher in the 
South Royalston school, and their home is in Worcester, where 
Mr. Dustan is engaged in the insurance business. 

Charles R. Safford, youngest son of Ruel Roby Safford, was 
born in Fitchburg, Oct. 2, 1856, and moved with his parents 
to South Royalston in 1861. He attended the Royalston schools 
and afterwards schools in Boston. In 1876 with other Roy- 
alston boys he went to Colorado to engage in the cattle raising 
business, but returned the following year to accept a position 
in the United States service. Port of Boston, where he is still 
employed having received five promotions in the thirty-eight 
years that he has been there. Owing to his being a government 
official he is not eligible to accept any elective political office, 
but has been a Trustee of the Thomas Crane public library in 
Quincy for many years, also Trustee of the Memorial Con- 
gregational church of Quincy. He is a member of many clubs 
and societies and has been president of the South Royalston 
school association since its organization in 1904, He married 
Drucilla A. Robinson of New Brunswick; they have three sons: 
Winthrop M., Henry W. and Loyal R. His home is in Quincy. 





ROBY R. SAFFORD 



EVERARD B. HANSON 





NAHUM LONGLEY 



JESSE BODETT 



BIOGRAPHICAL 497 

NAHUM LONGLEY 

Nahum Longley, prominent in the lousiness and church life 
of South Royalston, was born at Westford, Mass., March 16, 
1813. At the age of eight years, his father being dead and his 
mother having a number of children to care for, he was bound 
out to Dr. Howe of Templeton, with whom he remained until 
he became of age. His thirst for knowledge was so intense 
as to induce him to saw wood evenings to enable him to pur- 
chase text books. This enterprising spirit led Dr. Howe and 
others to send him to school a few terms and he took advantage 
of every opportunity to add to his knowledge. After leaving 
Dr. Howe he taught school for several terms in Templeton. 

x\t the age of twenty-seven he married Elizabeth R. Cass 
of Richmond, N. H., April 7, 1840. He was foreman in the 
woolen mills at Otter River for several years, and in 1844 moved 
to Ashuelot, N. H., where he was employed in the same capacity 
in the mills of that village. In 1849 he moved to South Royal- 
ston and was foreman in the Rufus Bullock mills until 1857, 
when he engaged in farming which he followed as long as he 
was able. He served as Justice of the Peace twenty-eight 
years being appointed by Governor Andrew, and was succes- 
sively re-appointed by Govs. Bullock, Gaston and Long. Among 
the other positions of trust which he has held with credit are: 
Clerk of the Second Congregational Parish twenty-five years, 
trustee of the Bullock fund thirty years, trustee of the Stowe 
fund twenty-six years. He was on the board of selectmeai, 
assessors and overseer of the poor three years at different times, 
and was postmaster of the South Royalston post office for seven 
years. He was a meml)er of the second Congregational church 
and an active supporter of Ijoth church and parish. He was 
conspicvious all through life for Christian integrity and sim- 
plicity of character. 



JESSE EDGAR BODETT 

Jesse Edgar Bodett, for about a quarter of a century a well- 
known resident of South Royalston, was born in Athol, Nov. 
30, 1856. When a young man he enlisted in the United States 
army, Jan. 24, 1876, and served with his company in the West. 



498 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

during the Indian troubles receiving an honorable discharge 
Ma}^ 22, 1877. He came to South Royalston in the autumn 
of 1877 and was employed by his uncle John King. In 1882 
he began work for the Fitchburg Railroad Co., and was soon 
promoted to be section foreman a position he held from August, 
1885, to April 1, 1901, when he resigned to become vice-president 
of Brown Bros. & Co., of Gardner, chair manufacturers, which 
position he held until his death, July 24, 1906. He married 
Ella C. Brown Jan. 16, 1879. They have one daughter, M. 
Augusta, born August 21, 1880. He was a member of Athol 
Lodge of Masons, Union Royal Arch Chapter and Tully Lodge 
of Odd Fellows of Athol, Charles Sumner Camp, Sons of Vet- 
erans, and the Rebekahs of Gardner, and Artisan Lodge of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen of Baldwinville. He pos- 
sessed a sunny, cheerful disposition and had the art of making 
and keeping friends. 



JOSEPHUS T. DAY 

Josephus T. Day, brother of Caleb AV. Day, was born in 
Richmond, N. H., Nov. 3, 1829. He came to South Royalston 
in 1847, which was his home for more than sixty-five years . 
He married Helen F. Bradish of Winchendon, June 26, 1851. 
He was employed for many years in the old chair shop and 
brush wood shop and during the later years of his life con- 
ducted the coal business in the village for Evans & Bowker. 
He had two children, Myron W., who died at the age of thirteen 
years, and Addie, born June 7, 1855, married Edward A. Beals. 
Mrs. Day died August 21, 1907, and Mr. Day Dec. 28, 1913, 
at the home of his daughter in Athol. 



JONAS M.TURNER 

Deacon Jonas M. Turner was born in South Royalston 
Dec. 31, 1820, son of Jerathmural and Prudence Manning Tur- 
ner. When quite young he learned the carpenter's trade, help- 
ing to build the covered railroad bridges between Royalston 
and Athol. Then he was engaged in farming for a number of 
years and in 1871 sold his farm and bought a house in South 





JOSKPIIUS T..DAV 



JOHN KIXC 





GRORGK P. SIIKRWIN 



DR. IIRNRY O. ADAMS 



BIOGRAPHICAL ^99 

Royalston village, where he lived during the remainder of his 
life. After the death of Mr. Edmond Stockwell he bought the 
brush wood business formerly carried on by Mr. Stockwell 
and ran it about a year when he sold it. He was a deacon of 
the Second Congregational church and was an active worker 
in the church and Sunday school and also sang in the choir 
a number of years. He served the town as selectman one term. 
He married Mary G. Wheeler June 12, 1845. She was injured 
in a railroad accident between South Royalston and Athol, 
June 16, 1870, from which she never fully recovered, died Dec. 
27, 1877. Their children were: Lucus Warren, born Jan. 10, 
1847, died Sept. 26, 1847; Maria E., born July 11,1850, died 
June 25, 1855, and Myra W., born Oct. 7, 1858. On Jan. 14, 
1879, he married Mrs. Mary A. Brown; two children were 
born to them: Marden Hartwell, born March 5, 1881, and 
Mary Adaline,born Ai:ril 10, 1886. Deacon Turner died, Dec. 
23, 1894. 



JOHN KING 



John King, who was prominently connected with South 
Royalston history for more than half a century, was born in 
Orange March 5, 1816, the second child of Daniel and Jane 
(Morton) King. Daniel King was born Nov. 3, 1793, and Jane 
Morton, July 14, 1799, in the same locality as her husband. 
She was a daughter of Jonathan Morton, who was a scout in 
the Revolution and died in Athol April 1, 1818. 

John King learned the carpenter's trade and erected several 
buildings in Orange, and removed to South Royalston when a 
young man where he continued his business of a contractor 
and builder. South Royalston at that time was one of the most 
prosperous villages of Northern Worcester county, and Mr. 
King with the energy and enthusiasm of a young man went 
extensively into building operations. Among his building 
projects was the erection of a shop three stories in height, for 
getting out builders' supplies. He also moved and rebuilt the 
house which had been brought down from the Nahum Green 
place on Gale hill and remodeled it into a hotel which has 
been the hotel of South Royalston for nearly three quarters 
of a century. After renting the hotel property for a while, he 



500 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

occupied it himself and was the landlord for about seven years, 
having a livery stable connected with it. In 1870 he sold out 
to Richard Moore. He was the builder of many of the houses 
in South Royalston and resided for many years in the house 
on Main street adjoining the Methodist church property. Soon 
after removing to South Royalston he married Mary B. Bat- 
cheller Nov. 21, 1839, who was the daughter of Isaac and Rhod a 
(Holman) Batcheller. Isaac Batcheller was a direct descen- 
dant of Nehemiah Batcheller, who was one of the Minute Men 
who took part in the Battle of Lexington. The children of 
John King were: George H., born in 1840; Charles A., born 
in 1842; Clarence E., born in 1845; Mary A., born in 1847; 
Emma F., born in 1850; Nettie J., in 1853; John H., in 1856; 
Mabel J., in 1872 and Royial T., in 1876. John King, married 
second, Rhoda Richardson, third, Pheoba Howard and fourth, 
Jane Chase. Mabel J. and Royial T., were his children by Jane 
Chase. He died in South Royalston March 20, 1892. 



SILAS HALE 



One of the most prominent and progressive farmers of 
Northern Worcester county in the first half of the 19th century 
was Silas Hale, who was born on the old Hale place in Gerry, 
now PhiUipston, May 15, 1802. His farm was brought into 
Royalston by the change of the boundary line between PhiUip- 
ston and this town in 1837. Mr. Hale in his early manhood 
was very active and possessed a great deal of push. Any scheme 
which he undertook went through. He was widely known as 
a horse breeder, owning the famous stallion "Green Mountain 
Morgan" said to be the best horse ever owned in this part of the 
country and a sketch of which appears in other pages of this 
work. 

Mr. Hale owned thirty horses at one time and built a new 
barn, the largest and best in Worcester county at that time. 
He was also at one time engaged in the raising of sheep. He 
was much interested in the improvement of agricultural tools 
which was just beginning to attract the attention of the country 
at that time. He bought the first mowing machine that was 
brought into town, a clumsy affair with wooden cutter-bar. 
He was very active in church work, being one of the leading 



BIOGRAPHICAL 501 

spirits in building the Second Congregational church in South 
Royalston in 1837, mortgaging his farm for two thousand 
dollars to raise the necessary funds for the new building. He 
and his wife sang in the choir for a number of years. In the 
latter part of his life he met with financial losses which forced 
him to retire from active life. His health was excellent in his 
old age and he was possessed of remarkable physical vigor. 
At eighty years of age he mowed an acre in four and a half 
hours, and spread the hay, then walked a half mile to dinner 
and back, and a little past five o'clock the hay was raked into 
tumbles. He is said to be the oldest man who ever climbed 
the two hundred feet of stairs in Bunker Hill monument, doing 
that when eighty-nine years of age to the astonishment of the 
care-taker of the monument. He also went to the polls and voted 
for president in 1896 when ninety-four years old. 

He married Betsy Batcheller of Royalston, Oct. 7, 1823. 
He had two daughters, one of whom married Anan Stockwell of 
Royalston and the other Dr. J. B. Gould, who was for several 
years the physician of South Royalston. Mr. Hale died at 
Athol, March 28, 1897, at the age of ninety-five, and was buried 
in Riverside cemetery. South Royalston.' 



ELISHA F. BROWN 

Elisha F. Brown was born in Plaistow, N. H., Oct. 16, 1827. 
In his early manhood he moved to South Royalston, and soon 
received the position of station master at the South Royalston 
station of the Vermont and Massachusetts railroad, the road 
having been opened only. a short time. He retained this posi- 
tion until 1863 when he was appointed in charge of the station 
in Athol, officiating as station and ticket agent until 1890, 
when he was relieved of the station duties, by reason of the in- 
creased business of the road, and officiated only as ticket agent. 
While in Athol he was prominent in town and church affairs, 
serving on the school committee and as moderator at town 
meetings, and was also prominent in the Unitarian church. 
When in Royalston he was also prominent in town affairs and 
served in the legislature in 1861 . He was quite a public speaker 
and well versed in parliamentary rules, was quiet and unas- 
suming and courteous in every position of life. He married 



^Q2 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Miss Adeline A. French of South Royalston in 1851; she died 
in Athol. They had two sons, Edward and Arthur C. 

NATHANIEL G. BECKWITH 



Nathaniel G. Beckwith, who was engaged in the manufac- 
ture of wash stands and Hght stands, sometime before 1850; 
lat/er he had a small grocery store. He was a native of Ac- 
worth, N. H., where he was born Sept. 13, 1819. He married 
Fanny M. Barker of West Claremont, N. H. They had two 
children: Charles E., born April 19, 1849; and Minnie, born 
Oct. 28, 1856, both of whom were born in South Royalston 
Minnie married Frank L. Cobb. Mr. Beckwith died June 18, 
1868, and his wife Aug. 9, 1877. 



CHAPTER XXVI 



SOUTH ROYALSTON BRASS BAND. 

One of the famous organizations of the town was the old 
South Royalston Brass Band, which flourished about the middle 
of the last century. A band was in existence in South Royals- 
ton as early as 1840, and during that year it went to Barre, Mass., 
to play at the great Whig rally at which Daniel Webster was the 
principal speaker. John M. Upham and Benjamin W. Rich 
were among those present on that great occasion, and Mr. Rich 
used to relate an amusing incident which transpired at that time. 
One of the young musicians on entering the hotel picked up a 
large stove pipe hat from the hat rack in the hallway and re- 
marking in a jesting tone, "This is a pretty good hat," placed it 
upon his head. It happened to be Webster's hat and was so 
large that it slipped down over the young man's ears, covering 
iiis head completely. 

The one who is credited as being the most active in the or- 
ganization of this band was Ebenezer G. Twichell, a talented 
young musicain, who died Sept. 7, 1847, at the early age of twenty 
four years. 

This band was organized about the year 1845, and included 
among its members some of the best-known residents of South 
Royalston and vicinity. Among those who were members of 
the organization were Ebenezer G. Twichell, John M. Upham, 
George Thacher Rich, Benjamin W. Rich, Lorenzo Upham, 
Charles Upham, Webster Upham, Cortland Clark, Wilder 
Cross, Edwin Stockwell, Caleb Stockwell, Joseph Garner, Charles 
Bowker, Hapgood Davis, Jeremiah A. Rich, Lyman Clark, 
Addison Sherwin and Lyman L. Clark. This band existed as a 
South Royalston organization about fifteen years. The first 
leader was probably Ebenezer Twichell and others who held 
that position were John M. Upham, Benjamin W. Rich, Wilder 
Cross and George T. Rich. It became famous all over Central 
Massachusetts, Southern Vermont and New Hampshire, having 
engagements at Keene, N. H., Brattleboro, Vt., Greenfield, 
Montague, Gardner, Barre and many other places. 



^04- HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Just prior to the Civil War, as several of the players had re- 
moved from town, the South Royalston organization consolidat- 
ed with the Baldwinville Band. The combined bands did con- 
siderable service in war time, conducting at least two Templeton 
companies of volunteers to their regimental camps. Several of 
the South Royalston meml^ers entered the army as musicians or 
as soldiers, Cortland Clark and Joseph Garner going out as 
members of the Twenty-first Regiment Band of which George 
T. Rich became leader. 

About the time the war closed the South Royalston part of 
the band ceased to exist. Occasionally during the ten years 
succeeding the war. Wilder Cross and Lyman Clark would get 
together and make the valley echo with the music of the fife and 
drum, and in even more recent years the notes of Benjamin W. 
Rich's clarinet saluted the ears of the people as they passed along 
the street. The only survivor of the band now living is Lyman 
L. Clark. A few caps, instruments and fragments of uniforms 
are still preserved by J. E. Rich and Fred W. Cross. 



SOUTH ROYALSTON'S FORTY-NINERS. 

The History of Royalston would not be complete without 
some reference to that company of Forty-Niners, who soon after 
the discovery of gold in California in 1848, left South Royalston 
for that new Eldorado of the West. Their experiences in that 
far country makes interesting reading for these days. The 
fever of emigration which swept over many New England towns 
at that time led seven of the citizens of South Royalston to try 
their fortunes in the gold country. 

This party as originally organized consisted of Capt. John 
Whitmore, Jeremiah A. Rich, Handel Clark, Lyman Sherwin, 
Alvin Pierce, Curtis Perry and George Batchellor. Capt. Whit- 
more, the leader of this company, was at that time one of the 
most prominent citizens of South Royalston, and was an ex- 
perienced lumberman and sawmill owner; Jeremiah Rich was 
a man of considerable experience as a carpenter jind wood work- 
er; and the other five were men of various occupations. Taking 
ship at Boston in the summer of 1850, they proceeded to the 
Isthmus of Panama, landing at Colon, which was at that time an 
unimproved port without wharves or docks. From Colon thej^ 



SOUTH ROYALSTON's FORTY- NINERS SO'y 

followed the Chagres River through the present Gatun Lake 
region to the neighborhood of Culebra Mountain. Here strap- 
ping their baggage on pack animals they crossed the mountains 
to the old port of Panama, where they took steamship for San 
Francisco. From San Francisco they went inland to Stockton, 
then a city of tents. Here they stored their heavier baggage, 
and taking only what they could carry on their backs, started 
for the mountains. Their trip to the gold coast had been marked 
by one great calamity. While on the way from Panama to San 
Francisco, George Batcheller, one of the most promising young 
men in the party, and son of an old Royalston family, died of 
ship fever and was buried on the shore. A further calamity 
awaited them in the loss of their supply chests which they had 
left at Stockton. These chests, built before leaving home, and 
containing extra boots, blankets and necessary articles of cloth- 
ing, had cost them about fifty dollars each for transportation 
and storage alone. A few weeks after they left for the mountains, 
Stockton was almost utterly destroyed by fire, and their treas- 
ured chests were burned with all their valuable contents. 

The first winter after their arrival in California was spent in 
a cabin in the mountains. A picture of this cabin, drawn from 
memory l)y one of the party, was preserved by Jeremiah Rich, 
as also were several nuggets of gold secured by him during his 
stay in the gold regions. Most of the members of the party re- 
mained away from home about two years, engaged chiefly in 
placer mining, damming rivers, sluicing, and searching for gold 
in the beds of streams. All with the exception of Batcheller 
returned to South Royalston, very little richer in pocket than 
when they went away, but each possessing a store of experiences 
which were ever after pleasant to reflect upon, though tinged 
with events of sadness. 

They were in California during some of the most exciting 
days in the history of that state, when the admission of the 
state into the union without slavery was one of the burning 
political questions of the hour, when crime and lawlessness were 
rampant, and when the Vigilantes were dealing out rough shod 
justice with a liberal hand. It is stated that when Capt. John 
Whitmore left Royalston he carried one thousand dollars in gold 
in a belt strapped around his waist; this story may well be be- 
lieved, as he was a man who at home often carried large sums in 
the crown of his stove-pipe hat. It is to be regretted that no 



S06 HTsroRV or royalstoi^ 

diary of the experiences of these mea during their staj^ in thee 
gold diggings has been preserved. 



SILAS HALE'S FAMOUS GREEN MOUNTAIN MORGAN.. 

Sauth Royalston was the home of one of the most famous- 
horses of the United States in the middle of the last century., 
and horsemen of those days in all parts of this countiy and even' 
in other co-untries knew ccf Silas- Hale and his celebrated ''Green- 
Mountain Morgan."' Mr. Hale fir;>t saw the horse in Walpole,. 
N, H., in 1841, and bought him in June, 1842, at Spri-ngfield, Vt.,. 
when eight years of age, and kept him fourteen years as a stock 
horse. The first year that he owned him he booked $900, at SIO^ 
to ensure, of which $700" proved good; the second year he booked 
crver $1200 at the same price; his receipts increased every year 
untilin one year they amounted to $2745, the price charged then 
being $20. He sold his stock at higher prices than was received- 
by any other man in those days, receiving $1500 for a stallion 
six years old, that went to Davenport, Iowa, while he sold many 
of his colts to go to Iowa at prices ranging from $200' to $600. 
Romeo 1st, a promising four years' colt, which much resembled- 
his sire, he sold toS. H. Edgerly of Manchester, N. H., for $600,. 
who in less than two years sold him for $1500- to go to Dubuque,. 
Iowa. Mr. Hale in describing to the writer his Green Mountain 
Morgan said, "He was as handsome and stylish a horse as was; 
ever made," and that he was in great demand to be ridden at 
muster for 60 to 100 miles around; he was ridden by the chief 
marshal at the great water celebration in Boston on the intro- 
duction of the CcK^hituate water into the city, and Mr. Hale re- 
ceived $45 for his services on that occasion. Mr. Hale related 
with gretit enthusiasm, an account of a tour through the West 
with his beiiutiful horse in 1853, and his eyes sparkled as he re- 
called the tremendous applause and cheering with which Green 
Mountain was received as he entered the exhibition ring at the 
State Fair of Kentucky at Louisville. During this trip he re- 
ceived the first premium at the State Fairs of Kentucky, Ohio 
and Michigan. The Cincinnati Gazette of Oct. 13, 1855, speak- 
ing of another noted horse from New England, which was then 
attracting attention, said as follows: "So, also, when Hale's 
Green Mountain appeared on the show grounds at Louisville, 



bale's green mount ai"n morgan §07 

Ivy., in 1853, he met with a cordial welcome, and the horse was 
rgreeted on his entering the exhibition ring with such eager ap- 
plause as told full plainly that his form and his style of action 
were new, but were appreciated ])y the thousands of strangers 
t)efore whom he was moving. It is hardly nx?cessary to say that 
he received the highest premium, as he had previously done the 
:same season at the Michigan State fair at Detroit, and the Ohio 
'State fair at Dayton." It is proper to add that the horse was 
taken to Dayton, Ohi-o, "by railroad, without any stop for the 
purpose of rest. The fair at Dayton being over he went directly 
to Detroit, arriving there after the commencement of the fair. 
From Detroit he went directly to Louisville, where he arrived 
late the night previous to the last day of the fair. 

Mr. Hale said that the excitement was so great that a New 
England horse had -carried off the highest honors of the state 
that he was told that he had better look out for the safety of 
himself and his horse, which advice he took by getting away 
from the state as soon as possible. An attempt was made at 
one time to poison the horse in Brattleboro, Vt., and so fearful 
was Mr. Hale that some harm might befall his favorite steed 
that he lay many a night in the stall with him, so close that he 
•could reach out his hand and touch him, while his faithful old 
•dog, Zek«, which was a wonderfully sagacious animal, kept 
guard ov€r both man and horse, and would allow no one to ap- 
proach n«ar the stall. Many an interesting anecdote might be 
related of Zeke and Green Mountain. Mr. Hale owned Green 
Mountain for fourteen years, and sold him the day and month 
that he was 22 years old for $2000 to a stock company in Will- 
iamstown, Vt. He lived to be 32 years old, and paid for himself 
and all his expenses, and did not die in debt. 



SOUTH ROYALSTON GRANGE. 

One of the youngest and most flourishing organizations of 
the town is the South Royalston Grange, No. 320, which was 
organized by C. M. Gardner, Past Master of the State Grange, 
March 11, 1913, with forty-nine members. Harold C. Mosher 
was the first master of the Grange, and was just past his 17th 
birthday when he was installed. It was claimed at the time that 
he was the youngest man in the United States filling the chair of 



508 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 



master of a Subordinate Grange. The first officers of South 
Royalston Grange were: Master, Harold C. Mosher; Overseer, 
Forest Richmond; Lecturer, Victoria Connolly; Chaplain, Lura 
Williams; Steward, Frank Brown; Assistant Steward, Charles 
Stewart; Treasurer, John Heath; Secretary, Florence Wheeler; 
Gate Keeper, Harry Greenhall; Ceres, Marguerite Henderson; 
Pomona, Helen Struthers; Flora, Mary Sullivan; Lady Assist- 
ant Steward, Mrs. Frank Brown; Executive Committee, B. H. 
Mosher, three years, C. E. Heath, two years, J. F. Wilkey, one 
j^ear. Harold C. Mosher served as Master for two years, when 
Arthur Divoll was elected for the present year. The meetings 
have been held in Whitney Hall to the present time. During the 




OLD METHODIST CHURCH, NOW THE HOME OF 
SOUTH ROYALSTON GRANGE 



spring of 19L5 the building known as the old Methodist Church, 
was purchased of George E. Pierce and will be the future home of 
the Grange. The present membership is sixty-three. 



SOUTH ROY ALSTON POST OFFICE 509 

SOUTH ROYALSTON POST OFFICE 

The Post Office at South Royalston was established Nov. 
(i, 1837, and Hiram W. Albee was the first postmaster. Those 
liolding the office since with the date of their appointment 
are as follows: Lucas W. Partridge, Feb. 3, 1853; Gardner 
N. Johnson, Dec. 24, 1857; Silas Stow, Nov. 19, 1858; Lucas 
W. Partridge, June 21, 1861; Charles Bowker, Aug. 6, 1862; 
Benjamin B. Murdock, April 12, 1866; Burton B. Murdock, 
March 14, 1870; David W. Day, Jan. 19, 1874; Amelia L Day, 
May 23, 1877; Nahum Longley, March 24, 1879; Lyman L. 
Clark, Nov. 11, 1885; Benjamin W. Rich, Nov. 29, 1901; Ed- 
ward J. Richmond, Sept. 15, 1911. 

E. J. Richmond, the present postmaster of the South Royal- 
ston office, was born Jan. 4, 1870, in Trowbridge, Wiltshire 
county, England. In 1882, he came to America with his parents, 
making their home in Montville, Ct., where he attended the 
public school. In 1884 the family came to South Royalston, 
and there in the employ of Col. Whitney, he learned the art of 
weaving in the woolen mill, which he followed until the mill 
was destroyed by fire. He then tried to broaden his education 
by attending the Mount Hermon school at Northfield, taking 
a one year's course. In 1892 he went to Baldwinville where 
he bought a half interest in the firm known as Heath & Co., 
a general country store, carrying a seven thousand dollar stock. 
In 1896 he purchased the entire stock of Heath & Co., and carried 
the business on himself. At the same time he began soliciting 
orders in South Royalston, making two deliveries each week; 
this soon resulted in the purchasing of the old site and build- 
ings of L. L. Clark & Co. He restocked this store and with 
his father, A. J. Richmond, as manager, did a successful busi- 
ness in connection with the Baldwinville store. In 1904 his 
business was partly destroyed by fire, when he lost heavily. 
He still continued business there and in 1911 was appointed 
postmaster, with his brother Forest E., as assistant. Ee is a 
member of the Second Congregational church of South Royal- 
ston and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen of Baldwin- 
ville. In connection with his store he does a good amount of 
real estate business. On Jan. 7, 1894, he was married to Bessie 
Margaret Harris, daughter of Margaret J. and Arthur F. Harris, 
of the firm of Holman & Harris. They have two children: 



^IQ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Mildred Harris, born Oct. 24, 1895, and Harris Alfred, born 
April 24, 1905. 



SOUTH ROYALSTON HOTEL. 

The building which has been the Hotel of South Royalston 
for more than half a century, was originally a dwelling house on 
the Nahum Green place on Gale Hill. It was taken down and 
erected for a shoe shop in South Royalston, and was moved to 
its present location by John King in the early sixties. Mr. King 
remodeled the building into a hotel, and after renting it for a 
year or two to a man by the name of Baker, occupied it himself, 
and was the landlord for about seven years, having a livery stable 
connected with it. 

In 1872 Richard Moore purchased the property and was the 
landlord for thirty-three years, when he sold out to James 
Powers in 1905, who kept it until 1915, when he sold it to J. D. 
Perreault in October of that year. Mr. Moore was a native of 
Athol, where he commenced the hotel business when a young 
man. For five years previous to coming to South Royalston, 
he was in a hotel at Southbridge, Mass. After retiring from the 
hotel business, Mr. Moore purchased the Dr. Henry 0. Adams 
place near the Congregational church and started a store, which 
he has conducted to the present time. Back in old stage times, 
before the building of the Vermont and Massachusetts Rail- 
road, there was an old tavern in the building now standing just 
west of E. J. Richmond's store. Names that have been men- 
tioned as landlords of this old tavern are Patch and Bowker. 
The stage line that ran from Worcester to Keene, N. H., used to 
change horses here. 



SOUTH ROYALSTON SCHOOL ASSOCIATION. 

In the summer of 1904, some of the scholars who attended 
the South Royalston school from 1868 to 1874, conceived the 
idea of holding a reunion. Letters of invitation were accordingly 
sent out, and on the day announced, Aug. 3, 1904, about fifty 
of the old scholars and teachers gathered at Mechanics Hall in 
South Royalston. The forenoon was spent in renewing the 



SOUTH ROYALSTON SCHOOL ASSOCIATION 511 

friendships, and indulging in reminiscences of school days, a 
picture of the group was taken and dinner was served in the hall. 
In the afternoon exercises were held at which Charles Safford 
of Atlantic, officiated as chairman and M. Abbie Sherwin of 
Gardner, secretary. L. B. Caswell, teacher of the school in 1873 
and 1874, called the roll of his scholars of those years, and Rev. 
Reuben Whipple of Bridgeport, Conn., offered prayer. There 
were brief speeches from many of the old scholars and teachers, 
M. Abbie Sherwin gave a poem on "Our Childhood Home," and 
Mrs. Helen Stuart of Worcester, one on "Our School Days and 
the Old School House." It was such an enjoyable occasion that 
it was the unanimous opinion that a permanent organization 
should be formed, which was done with the following officers: 
President, Charles A. Safford of Atlantic; Vice President, J. 
Herbert King, Baldwinville; Secretary, M. Abbie Sherwin, 
Gardner; Treasurer, Fred L. Drury, Fitchburg; Executive 
Committee, Mrs. Myra Benson, Otter River, Fred Ingalls, 
Greenfield, Mrs. E. G. Reals, South Royr.lston. 

The meetings of the Association have been kept up each year 
to the present time, and what was first started as the reunion of 
two or three classes has developed into the annual gathering of 
South Royalston, including all who ever attended the South 
Royalston schools, and the sons and daughters of this little 
village among the hills, who are now scattered all over New 
England, look forward each year with pleasure to the first Wed- 
nesday of August, when they can return to the scenes of their 
early homes and school life, and they feel like saying as does the 
poet : 

"There is no friend like the old friend 
That has shared our morning days, 

No greeting like his welcome. 
No homage like his praise." 
One of the most successful reunions held was that of 1911 
when about two hundred gathered at Whitney hall; the fore- 
noon was given over to a social time and the afternoon to a pro- 
gram of music and speaking. Mrs. Delia (Pierce) Lord of Athol, 
who was a teacher of the school forty-four years before, i-ead the 
roll of her pupils from the original record book and eighteen re- 
sponded to their names. The chief address of the day was given 
by Rev. John F. Lehy, S. J., of Holy Cross College, a South 
Royalston boy. He had not visited the village for nearly forty 



5/2 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

years. He was escorted to the platform by Rev. Walter Rice of 
Agawam, pastor of the Congregational church in South Royals- 
ton from 1868 to 1874, and who during his pastorate there had 
Father Lehy as a private pupil. 

Among other speakers were Geoffrey B. Lehy of Boston, 
who was a student in 1874 and Dana M. Dustan of Worcester, 
a former teacher, who married a South Royalston girl. At the 
eleventh annual reunion, among the speakers were: Mrs. Enez 
(Wheeler) Barrett of Orange, a teacher forty-three years before; 
L. B. Caswell of Athol, a teacher forty years before; Andrew 
Turner, a student at the school sixty-three years ago; Rep- 
resentative Fred W. Cross and Harrison Baker of Athol, who 
stated that thirty-two former students of the school enlisted in 
the Civil War and nine died in the service. 

Charles R. Safford of the Boston Custom House, who was 
elected president at the first reunion in 1904, M. Abbie Sherwin, 
the first secretary and Fred L. Drury, the first treasurer, have 
been elected to their respective offices at each reunion to the pres- 
ent time. 




VIEW IN SOUTH ROYALSTON 




RIVERSIDE CEMETERY. SOUTH ROYALSTON 



CHAPTER XXVII 

CEMETERIES. 

South Royalston has two cemeteries. The one that lies 
directly east of the old Methodist church building, and near the 
mills of the American Woolen Co., is the oldest in the south part 
of the town. Benjamin Blanchard of Athol deeded this lot 
Sept. 29, 1790, to eighteen proprietors, whose names were as 
follows: Edward Holman, A. Jones, B. Clark, T. Fish, E. New- 
ell, T. Waite, S. Twichell, S. Smith, G. Talbot, M. Blanchard, 
E. Wilder, S. Hale, S. Stow, Samuel Larned, S. Bruce, William 
Thimway, T. Burbank. This piece of land was described as 
being for a burying ground and when deeded was in the town of 
Athol. It contained half an acre. Benjamin Blanchard, the 
grantor of this deed, and South Royalston's first mill builder, 
was buried in this cemetery in 1808. 

These proprietors evidently constituted the first cemetery 
association in South Royalston, and these grounds were used 
for burial purposes between fifty and sixty years. There have 
been few interments there since 1850, and none since that of 
Ambrose Clark, who died May 18, 1882. The members of the 
old association are mostly dead, and the town has for some time 
contemplated assuming the care of the grounds. 

The newer burial ground of South Royalston, or Riverside 
Cemetery, as it is now called, is situated a little out of the village 
on the Winchendon road, near the banks of Millers River, and 
presents a beautiful appearance, being well cared for, and con- 
taining some fine monuments. This is owned by an association 
which had its origin at a meeting of some of the citizens of South 
Royalston held in the vestry of the meeting house on the even- 
ing of Nov. 22, 1842, for the purpose of taking into considera- 
tion the subject of procuring and preparing a piece of land for a 
Burying Ground, and adopting measures in relation to the same. 
The meeting organized with Hiram W. Albee as moderator, and 
William H. Vose, secretary. A committee was chosen to make 
investigations and after several subsequent meetings an Asso- 
ciation was formed on Dec. 12, 1842, of which H. W. Albee 
was chosen president, Ephraim Turner, vice-president; and 



57/ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

William H. Vose, secretary and ti si'rer. The names of the 
members of the association as given under date of Jan. 9, 1844, 
included thirty-two residents of Roj'alston, seven of Phillip- 
ston and one each of Athol and Princeton. To these men as 
proprietors, Timothy Lewis, on Jan. 9, 1844, deeded a piece of 
land containing one hundred and ninety square rods and con- 
stituting the easterly part of what is now known as Riverside 
Cemetery. In this deed the grantor reserved the lot in which 
his remains today lie at rest, also the right of occupancy of the 
north end of the tract until the purchase price of fifty dollars 
should be paid. Timothy Lewis was chosen sexton in November, 
1844, and in February, 1849, Luther Harrington was chosen as 
the sexton and served until 1868, after which Josephus T. Day 
was elected to that position in which capacity he served nearly 
a score of years. In the early seventies Benjamin W. Rich, 
who owned the land west of the cemetery, began to cut it up 
into burial lots and sell them, and the dividing wall between 
his land and the cemetery was duly removed. After Mr. 
Rich's death his daughter sold the remainder of the strip to the 
Cemetery Association, and it has now been prepared for burial 
lots. It seems that interments began to be made within the 
enclosure before it was deeded to the proprietors, for Sarah 
Elizabeth, a young daughter of Rev. Joseph and Mrs. Rowena 
Lewis, who died Oct. 27, 1842, was buried there as was also 
Capt. Enoch Whitmore, father of Mrs. Timothy Lewis, who 
died in 1843. 



MEMORIAL TABLETS AT SOUTH ROYALSTON 

THE CROSS MEMORIAL 

On Sunday, May 28, 1916, an enduring and appropriate 
memorial given b}' the late Edward W. Cross of Winchendon, 
was unveiled in Riverside Cemetery, South Royalston. The 
memorial stands at the head of the middle aisle. It is of Quincy 
granite, about five feet in height, and bears a bronze plate with 
this inscription, "To the Boys of South Royalston who served 
their Country in the war for the Union, the Donor, himself one 
of those Boys, erects this Memorial." Then follow the names of 
42 young men whose homes were in or near this village, all but 





ALFRED W. NEALE 

(See page 29) 



EDWARD J. RICHMOND 
(See page 509) 




DEDICATION OF THE E. W. CROSS MEMORIAL 



THE CROSS MEMORIAL 5/5 

four of whom served on Royalston's quota. The unveiling took 
place at 3.45 p. m. just before the decoration of the graves of the 
soldier dead. Grouped about the monument were five members 
of Co. E, 53d Mass. Inf. and twelve other veterans from Athol, 
Templeton, Phillipston, Royalston and West Acton. There 
were also present thirty Sons of Veterans from Athol, Orange, 
Gardner and other towns, six Spanish War veterans, and a 
concourse of about 300 citizens, visitors and school children. 
Mrs. Ellen J. Cross, the widow of the donor, was present as 
the guest of honor of the occasion. The history of the monument 
was given by Representative Fred W. Cross. 

MR. CROSS' REMARKS. 

"Modesty would forbid as emotion almost prohibits my say- 
ing anything upon this occasion were it not for the fact that 
I know, perhaps better than anyone else, the story of this memo- 
rial. In September, 1861, a motherless boy 16 years of age 
came from West Swanzey, N. H., to live in this village at the 
home of his uncle a hundred yards distant from this spot. Being 
of an industrious disposition he at once found employment, 
first in the shop of S. S. Farrar and later in the woolen mill of 
Col, George Whitney. The Civil war had just opened but no 
man as yet dreamed of the magnitude to which that struggle 
would eventually grow. In the early summer of 1862 came two 
urgent calls for troops, 300,000 to serve for 3 years and 300,000 
to serve for 9 months. In response to this latter call Royalston 
furnished two commissioned officers and 25 non-commissioned 
officers and privates, practically all of them for Co. E of the 53d 
Mass. infantry. Among these was Edward W. Cross, our West 
Swanzey boy. He was mustered into the service Oct. 17, 1862, 
and followed the varying fortunes of his regiment until its final 
muster out in September, 1863. He shared the life of his comrades 
at Camp Stevens. He suffered with them the nausea of sea 
sickness on the Old Continental which bore the regiment from 
New York to New Orleans, He shared the long toilsome marches 
through the Teche country and from Opelousas to Alexandria, 
He bore a soldier's part in the battle of Fort Bisland and in 
both assaults on Port Hudson, And he only laid aside his 
arms as a soldier and resumed his duties as a citizen when the 
last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi had fallen and the 
great river was opened from Cairo to the sea. After his own 



57<5 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

army service was ended his father, Ebenezer F. Cross, enlisted 
in Co. L. of the 1st Vermont heavy artillery, was captured near 
Petersburg and died in Andersonville prison. Shortly after 
his return from the war Edward W. Cross took up his residence 
in Winchendon where he resided until his death less than 3 
months ago. Four years ago today he attended our Memorial 
exercises and when we arrived at this spot he asked that he 
might decorate the grave of Alonzo French, his tentmate in 
the Banks campaign, who sleeps a few yards from where we 
stand. About two years ago as he stood looking over this sacred 
enclosure where so many soldiers sleep, he expressed an earnest de- 
sire to erect a memorial to the boys of this valley who with him 
responded to the call of their country. Again one year ago this 
month when a fatal disease had laid its hand upon him and re- 
peatedly thereafter while something of life and strength remained 
he reiterated that desire. He lived to examine and approve the 
plans to read the inscription and to know that the work was at 
least begun. His faithful companion for over forty years and 
those who have assisted in the completion of this work have 
felt that in doing it they were but agents in helping to give 
reality to the fondest and most earnest wish of the loved one 
who has passed from sight." 

At this point the cord was loosed by Miss Dorothy K. Cross 
and the flag which draped the monument was removed by 
James N. Hunt of Maplewood, Mass., and Charles V. Goddard 
of Athol, both members of the same company and regiment 
with the donor. Taps was then sounded. 

''This monument comes to us today as a loving tribute from 
a soldier to his fellow soldiers; from one who marched and fought 
to his comrades and associates who in the same cause marched 
and fought; from one who hungered and thirsted to others who 
like him often hungered and thirsted; from one who had made 
his soldier bed in the frost or in the rain to others who oft awoke 
with rain soaked garments to take up the weaiy round of army 
life. It is especially fitting that it should stand here overlooking 
the last resting places of so many brave men whose names are 
written thereon. Of the 42 soldiers whose names are cast upon 
this tablet 17 sleep in this cemetery and one other in this village. 
Seven were killed or mortally wounded in action. Seven died 
in hospitals. Fully one-third gave their lives for their country. 
Four are living today: Emerson E. Bissell of Keene, N. H.; 



THE CROSS MEMORIAL 517 

James N. Hunt of Maplewood, Mass.; Charles S. Knight of 
Gardner, Mass.; and Lyman S. Wheeler of San Diego, Cal. 
The dews of heaven shall fall gently upon it. The rising sun 
each day shall bathe these names in golden splendor. Through 
all the years that are to come men and women and youths and 
maidens and little children shall point with pride to the name 
of some kinsman which is written there. And while the river 
tiows and the hills and rocks endure it shall stand as a memorial 
to our best and noblest sons." 

The monument was accepted for the Riverside cemetery asso- 
ciation by Caleb W. Day, 88 years of age, who in his long and 
useful life, over 75 years of which have been spent in South Royal- 
ston, had known personally every man whose name is inscribed 
on the monument. Remarks were also made by Hon. E. E. 
Hobson who expressed himself as deeply touched by the occasion. 
Miss Bertha M. Cross then gave a recitation, ''When the Flag 
Goes By," and the exercises closed with a selection by the band 
and song by the school children. 



THE LEHY MEMORIAL 

Another beautiful and appropriate bronze tablet has been 
donated by Hon. Geoffrey B. Lehy of Boston, which is to be 
placed in front of the old school house of District Number Ten, 
a quarter of a mile west of the post office. At the head of the 
tablet is cast a remarkably good representation of the old school 
building as it looked a half century ago, and beneath is this in- 
scription : 

"The Old School House. To the memory of a group of 
village boys who here learned their lessons of patriotism and 
died for their country. 

Chauncey W. Norcross, 

Edwin O. Vose, 

Clarence E. King, 

Nelson G. Wood, 

Henry E. Knight, 

Charles M. Upham, 

Asa J. Sanborn, 

Myron E. Barnes." 
It is proposed to have the tablet mounted upon a suitable 



^Ig HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

boulder of native granite and set on the ledge by the roadside 
where the boys whose names are cast upon it, used to play in 
childhood. 

Both of the above memorials were designed and the inscrip- 
tions written by Representative Fred W. Cross, the author of 
the military chapter in this history. 




SALMON S. FARRAR 



CHAPTER XXVIII 



SOUTH ROYALSTON FAMILIES 



SALMON S. FARRAR FAMILY 

Salmon Selden Farrar, for many years a prominent manu- 
facturer and leading citizen of South Royalston, was born in 
Winchendon Aug. 17, 1809, a son of Daniel and Rebecca (Stod- 
dard) Farrar. He was one of four children. Desiring to com- 
mence his life work before becoming of age, he agreed to pay his 
father one hundred dollars for his time and went to Athol, 
Mass., where he served time learning the machinist's trade in 
the Richardson machine shop. 

He came to Royalston in 1829 and first worked for John 
M. Upham in South Royalston; later he manufactured umbrella 
handles in a shop adjoining, which was later known as Upham 
and Day's peg shop. Between 1832 and 1836 he conducted a 
small machine shop, where he carried on a general jobbing 
business of iron and wood, the shop being located where the 
head gates of the American Woolen Co. now stand. 

Some of his first machine work was the turning of the shaft- 
ing in the original Rufus Bullock woolen mill. In June, 1836, 
he bought of John M. Upham an undivided half of the land 
located west of the Bullock mills, on Millers river to land owned 
by Josiah Waite on the west and Josiah Waite and Edson 
Clark on the north, taking in a tract of land known at the 
present time as Water street. This land included a water 
privilege that had formerly been used for a grist mill. During 
the year 1836, he erected a wood working shop and manufac- 
tured coffins and dry measures. In 1838 he purchased the un- 
divided half owned by John M. Upham. Later he manufactur- 
ed wooden sieves, hoops, wooden pails, deck buckets, rolling 
pins, saw horses, barrel covers, wooden dippers, children's 
wheel barrows, and all styles and sizes of children's sleds and 
rolling hoops. The last addition to his manufactured products 
was mosquito bars; these being used largely in New Jersey and 



52(9 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

the South. It is known that he shipped to Boston the first 
iron bound dry measures that were ever ironed outside of Bos- 
ton; previous to this time the measures were ironed after reach- 
ing the city. He was engaged in lumbering more or less all 
through his business career, and during the latter part of his 
life he was recognized as one of Royalston's most prominent 
lumber men. Previous to 1871 he used the up and down saw 
mill, and about this time installed an up-to-date circular 
mill, commencing business with little or no capital save 
his own native tact and shrewdness, he succeeded in 
acquiring a good paying business. He was personally known 
to every tax payer as he had served the town in the capacity 
of tax collector, probably more years than any other man. 

In 1832 he married Martha Evans of- Rockingham, Vt., 
who was born March 28, 1816. They had five children : Nelson, 
born June 25, 1837; Martha M., born Sept. 8, 1840; Edwin 
Evans, born March 15, 1844; Helen Isabella, born Sept. 28, 
1846, and S. Ardella, born Feb. 17, 1850. In early life Mr. and 
Mrs. Farrar united with the Second Congregational church 
in which they were deeply interested and were constant atten- 
dants upon the church services. Mr. Farrar was one of the 
largest contributors to everything pertaining to church work. 
In poHtics he was a Republican. 

S. Nelson Farrar, oldest child of Salmon S. and Martha 
(Evans) Farrar was born June 25, 1837, at South Royalston. 
He attended the schools of South Royalston, and then entered 
the employ of his father, at the age of twenty, in his wooden 
ware shop, beginning at the bottom and working through the 
different branches until he became a skilled workman in this 
line. He continued in this work and in 1876 he hired a part 
of his father's shop for the manufacture of all styles and sizes 
of barrel covers, which he made until his father's death in 1883. 
On Oct. 15, 1883, he purchased at public auction of the Farrar 
heirs the manufacturing plant formerly owned by his father 
and continued the manufacturing of barrel covers and mosquito 
bars. On June 15, 1885, his shop property was entirely des- 
troyed by fire removing an old landmark and the only shop 
that manufactured dry measures in the state. At this time 
Mr. Farrar only carried a small insurance and the loss was 
heavily felt by him. In the fall following the fire he decided 
to rebuild a smaller shop and put in the foundation for the same. 



THE SALMON S. FARRAR FAMILY 521 

and the new shop was raised on the anniversarj- of the fire. 
He continued in the manufacture of barrel covers to which 
he added that of dry measures. In 1890 he added to the plant 
a circular saw mill, it being the only one in that part of the town, 
this was not only a necessity to Mr. Farrar's business but a 
great convenience in that locality. 

He married Sarah A. Whitney of Athol, May 8, 1864. She 
was a faithful wife and loving mother, and an active worker 
in church and charitable work, and was a constant attendant at 
the Second Congregational church. She died Dec. 15, 1893, 
and Mr. Farrar died April 26, 1896, of cerebral hemorrhage. 
He was a quiet, unassuming man, who did not seek public office 
or honors, preferring his home to anything else. They had one 
son, Walter Nelson, born Feb. 12, 1865. 

Walter N. Farrar, son of S. Nelson and Sarah A. (Whitney) 
Farrar, was born in South Royalston Feb. 12, 1865. He at- 
tended the schools of South Royalston and at an early age 
spent a part of his spare time working in his grandfather's shop. 
After his father purchased the business he continued to help 
him until the shop was destroyed by fire. The next fall he 
entered the employ of C. W. Day in his brush handle shop, 
which was also destroyed by fire in January, 1885, when he 
went to work for John L. Whiting & Son of Boston, in the same 
line of business, until his father began rebuilding. In 1890 
he entered into partnership with his father under the firm name 
of S. N. Farrar and Son as the business is known today. At 
the death of his father he represented the third generation to 
manufacture dry measures at the same place and the fourth 
generation in this line of work. When his great-grandfather, 
Daniel Farrar of Winchendon, manufactured wooden measures, 
the material was then got out by hand, and the rims bent by 
soaking in hot water, and when his grandfather commenced 
the manufacture of wooden measures ranging in size from a 
quart to a half bushel he introduced a number of labor saving 
devices not used by his father, and as the business has passed 
from one generation to another new machinery has been added 
and the old method of hand work dispensed with, but the high 
reputation attained for the "Farrar measure" by the founder 
of the plant has been maintained during the many years that 
have elapsed since the originator started the business. 



522 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

S. A. Morse, one of the employees, had worked for three 
generations of the family, going to work for S. S. Farrar, when 
a young man; he came from Sullivan, N. H., and had worked 
for members of the family continuously with the exception 
of about eight years, up to a few days before his death which 
occurred Aug. 31, 1910, at the advanced age of eighty-seven. 
He was an expert in that line of work, and always had the 
respect and esteem of his employers. 

An act relative to the sale of fruits, vegetables and nuts 
which took effect March 21, 1912, in regard to selling by weight 
or numerical count, has affected the sale of dry measures to a 
great extent here in Massachusetts. For the past twenty years 
Mr. Farrar has been engaged in the manufacture of lumber and 
wood fitted for the stove. He has improved the plant by erecting 
new buildings and putting in new machinery and has also remodel- 
ed his residence it being his birth place erected by his grandfather. 
In politics he is a Republican. He served the town as selectman in 
1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, and has held other minor offices. He 
IS a member of Star Lodge of Masons, Union Royal Arch Chapter, 
Athol Commandery Knights Templars, and Themis Chapter 
of the order of Eastern Star. He married Nellie G. Wheeler 
of Chesterfield, N. H. They have no children. 

Martha M. Farrar, daughter of Samuel S. and Martha 
(Evans) Farrar, was born Sept. 8, 1840. She married Henry N. 
Foster, and died in Athol Nov. 17, 1910. She was before her 
marriage a school teacher for several years. Her husband, 
born Oct. 21, 1823, died in Athol April 30, 1907. Their chil- 
dren were: Mattie Foster, born Oct. 3, 1872; Myrtie Foster, 
born July 4, 1878; and Willie Foster, born Nov. 4, 1884, and died 
when eight months old. 

Edwin Evans Farrar, son of Salmon S. and Martha (Evans) 
Farrar was born March 15, 1844. He never married, and has 
always lived in South Royalston. 

Helen Isabella Farrar, daughter of Salmon S. and Martha 
(Evans) Farrar, was born Sept. 28, 1846, and died, Dec. 14. 
1847. 

S. Ardella Farrar, youngest daughter of Salmon S. and 
Martha (Evans) Farrar, was born Feb. 17, 1850. She married 
Dec. 17, 1874, B. Warren Rich of South Royalston. She was 
a great help to her husband in his store, as she had acquired a 
good knowledge of business having been associated with her 




CALEB W. DAY 



THE SAI.MON S. FARRAR FAMILY 523 

father in his business for some time. Her entire life was passed 
in the house where she was born, she having, on the death of 
her father, purchased of the remaining heirs their share of the 
homestead, upon which she made extensive improvements. 
She was a woman of strong character and was highly respected 
by a large circle of acquaintances. She died March 26, 1900. 



CALEB W. DAY FAMILY 

Anthony Day, the immigrant ancestor of Caleb W. Day, 
was born in England in 1616 and belonged to an ancient family. 
He came to Gloucester, Mass., and settled there permanently 
some time before 1657. John Day, the father of Caleb W. Day, 
was born in Richmond, N. H., Oct. 12, 1795. He settled in 
Richmond and married, Jan. 20, 1821, Sally Weeks, daughter 
of Caleb Weeks of Warwick, Mass. They had six children. 

Caleb W . Day, son of John and Sally (Weeks) Day, was 
born in Richmond, N. H.. Oct. 12, 1827. When he was five 
years old his father died, and his mother married Lewis Fisher 
and removed to Warwick, Mass. The family were in poor 
circumstances and he received but a few terms of schooling, not 
more than a year of school terms, he says, in referring to those 
boyhood days. When but fourteen years old he came to South 
Royalston with but seventy-three cents in money and all his 
belongiiij^s done up in a bandana handkerchief, having walked 
from his home, a distance of fourteen milns. He went to work 
in the woolen mill of Rufus Bullock, which was then a full 
fledged woolen mill employing about seventy-five hands. He 
received five dollars a month and his board. He worked there 
about five years, and during the last two years was overseer of 
the carding department, for which he received one dollar per 
day. He next went into the shoe peg shop of Beniis «& Jones, 
and went with Mr. Bemis to Northfield, Mass., and installed a 
shoe peg business for Murdock & Johnson and took a contract 
to make shoe pegs by the bushel. After working at the shoe 
peg business about three years, he worked for Mr. Jones six 
years on contract, and bought an interest in the business, which 
continued three j'ears. About 1862 he bought out the whole 
business, and later bought out the pine furniture business of 
Beckwith and Stockwell and run the business until 1885. He 
was engaged also in the brush wood business under the firm 



524 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

name of Uphani & Day. His shop was destroyed by fire in 
1885, and he resumed business after the fire in a factory which 
he hired, located in Winchendon near the New Hampshire line. 
He took his two sons, John W. and Charles L., in partnership 
with him under the firm name of C. W. Day & Co., and the 
business was carried on until July 1, 1908, when it was closed 
up. 

He always retained his residence in South Royalston, and 
was always prominent and active in town, church and social 
affairs. He was for more than ten years in succession on the 
board of selectmen, was assessor ten years, and a member of the 
school committee nine years, and one of the overseers of the 
poor twenty years, and is a trustee of town and church funds at 
the present time. For many years he has been an active member 
and deacon of the Second Congregational church, and a director 
in the Millers River National Bank of Athol. He has been 
a member of tVe Masonic fraternity since 1886. In 1890 he 
took a trip to Alaska. He was married Nov. 15, 1848, to Mary 
M. Upham daughter of John M. Upham of Templeton, Mass. 

The children of Caleb W. and Mary (Upham) Day are: 
Martha C, born Feb. 20, 1850, married J. E. Lyman of North- 
field, Mass. He is a railroad contractor and they reside in St. 
Louis, Mo.; Ellen, born Feb. 24, 1854, married L. M. Drury, 
proprietor of the Langdon hotel, Worcester; John W., born 
Dec. 11, 1853, and died June 4, 1911, married Nellie McColley. 
He was engaged in the brush wood business with his father and 
brother, Charles L., for nearly twenty-five years in Winchendon. 
Charles L., born May 4, 1855, married Sarah Smith of Deer- 
field, Mass., Feb. 9, 1878, there has been born to them four 
children; Annie M., born Jan. 9, 1879; Ethel, born July 15, 
1883; Hattie W., born Sept. 1886, died in infancy; and Mil- 
dred R., born Feb. 22, 1888. He served the town of Winchen- 
don for six years as assessor and is now treasurer of the Winchen- 
don Co-operative Bank. He was for many years engaged in 
the manufacture of brush wood with his father and brother in 
Winchendon. 



TIMOTHY LEWIS FAMILY 

Timothy Lewis was a native of Athol where he spent his 
early life. He went to South Royalston where he became a 




TIMOTHY LEWIS 




MRS. TIMOTHY LEWIS 



THE TIMOTHY LEWIS FAMILY 325 

well-known citizen and spent the remainder of his life. He 
was one of the founders of the Methodist church in South Royal- 
ston and two of his sons became prominent ministers of that 
denomination. He was drowned in 1853, while attempting to save 
a child from drowning in Millers River near his home. He 
married Sally Wait Whitmore, a daughter of Capt. Enoch 
Whitmore, who served seven years in the War of the Revo- 
lution, Feb. 1, 1811. Their children were: Joseph Whitmore, 
born June 23, 1812; John Spaulding, born March 27, 1814; 
Sally Wait, born July 18, 1817; Alvin Whitmore, born Nov. 
23, 1819; Whitman Taylor, born June 14, 1822; Hannah Dewine, 
born July 16, 1829; Enoch Thomas, born Sept. 6, 1830; Timothy 
Willard, Aug. 6, 1825. 

Whitman T. Lewis, was a marble worker and carried on the 
business at Athol Centre for a number of years. 

Alvin W. Lewis, married Hannah Richardson Jan. 10, 1844. 

Hannah D. Lewis, married John H. Rowell May 18, 1848, 
they lived in Clinton, Mass. 

Sally W. Lewis, married Dr. Horace B. Austin March 5, 
1845; he was a physician practicing in South Royalston. 

John Spauldinu Lewis, married Louisia V. Utley, Sept. 28, 
1843. They had two children: Maria L., born Nov. 10,1845; 
and Sarah A., born Dec. 26, 1846. He was a shoe manufacturer 
and lived in Royalston, Washington and Athol. He died in 
Athol Aug. 10, 1905, his wife died March 16, 1878; the daugh- 
ters reside in Athol. 

Rev. Joseph Whitmore Lewis was born in Royalston, June 
23, 1812, being the oldest of nine children of Timothy and Sally 
(Whitmore) Lewis. When fourteen years old he began the 
work of shoemaking with his father and continued in it for six 
years. During his childhood and youth his reverence for the 
Bible, the church, and all religious things was very deep. He 
dated his conversion from Feb. 19, 1830, under the labors of 
Rev. Enoch Bradley of the Winchendon circuit and united with 
the Methodist church in Phillipston. He attended school in Athol 
and Royalston for several months and in June, 1832, entered 
Wilbraham academy where he remained six months, and then 
returned home and kept school in Templeton. He returned to 
Wilbraham in 1834 and pursued his studies there. He was re- 
ceived on trial by the New England Conference, at its sessions in 
Lynn, June 3, 1855, and was stationed on Rowe circuit with Rev. 



52(5 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

C. Haywood. As an outfit he had one hundred dolUirs, with 
which he bought a horse, saddle, bridle, a valise and a few 
books. He was ordained deacon at Nantucket in 1837 by 
Bishop Waugh, an elder in Lynn in 1839 by Bishop Soule. 

After his appointment at Rowe he had appointments at 
twenty-four places extending over a period of forty-one years, 
during which time he was disabled by sickness only three Sun- 
days, and had only six vacation Sundays. During the first 
eight years of his ministry his salary averaged one hundred 
and sixty-five dollars per year, mostly paid in provisions and 
fuel. One year he received nearly all his salary in palm-leaf 
hats, which he exchanged at the store for goods. In 1876 
his name appears in the superannuated list of the New England 
conference, where it remained till his death which took place 
in Clinton, Mass., Jan. 17, 1889. He preached the first Metho- 
dist sermon in Enfield, Mass., and also in CHnton. The last 
years of his life were passed in retirement at his home in Clinton. 
He was married three times; first, to Miss Rowena E. Lennett 
of Blanford, Mass., who died in 1852, they had one child, a 
daughter, who died in infancy. He was married, second, to 
Miss Dorcas K. Hey wood of Princeton, Mass., and they had 
three children: Rev. Edward S. Lewis, D. D., who was presi- 
dent of Chattanooga University, Tenn.; Dora R. Lewis, who 
was an efficient and popular teacher; and Joseph W. Lewis, who 
was engaged in business. This wife died in 1863, and he married, 
third, Lucy H. Sawyer of Lancaster, March 10, 1864. 

Rev. T. Willard Lewif^f was born in South Royalston Aug. 6, 
1825. He was converted in 1842. He went to Fitchburg the same 
year to learn the scythe maker's trade, and there he joined 
the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1844 he began his studies 
preparatory to entering the ministry. In this he was entirely 
dependent on his own exertions for support. He fitted for 
college in Wilbraham academy and then spent two years at 
Union college, New York. He did not graduate, but received 
in after years the honorary degree of M. A. He was licensed 
as a preacher in Schenectady in 1847. Having joined the New 
England conference, he was appointed to Leicester in 1849, 
where he remained two years. His next pastorate was in Hop- 
kinton. Here his wife died and he went to Clinton in the spring 
of 1852. During his first year there his duties as the head of 
the building committee of a new church were added to his 




ENOCH T. LEWIS 



THE TIMOTHY LEWIS FAMILY J27 

regular pastoral duties. During his second year in Clinton he 
acted as secretary of the school committee. He is said to have 
been endowed with a warm, tender heart, a large and active 
imagination and good sound judgment. He was an interest- 
ing preacher, seldom profound and never dull. After leaving 
Clinton in 1853, he had appointments in Marlboro, Waltham, 
Boston, South Boston, Hopkinton and Worcester. In 1863 
he took charge of the missions of the Methodist Episcopal 
church in South Carolina and Florida. The work that he 
laid out for himself was prodigious, church after church was 
organized, and it is said that in eight years, he saw the mem- 
bership of his conference in Florida alone increase from nothing 
to thirty thousand with eighty-eight churches. He founded 
Claflin University. When he was in Charlestown his work 
was prosecuted with such unfaltering energy that his colleagues 
in labor could with the utmost difficulty persuade him to aban- 
don the fever-stricken city. When at last he was forced to go 
it was too late to save his life. He died at Sullivan's Island 
Sept. 30, 1871. 

Enoch T. Leuris, son of Timothy and Sally Wait (Whitmore) 
Lewis, was born in South Royalston Sept. 6, 1830. He went 
to Athol when a young man and learned the trade of a marble 
worker of his brother Whitman T. Lewis at Athol Centre. 
After learning his trade he worked in Laconia and Marlboro, 
N. H,, about four years and then returned to Athol and started 
a marble business of his own, which he conducted successfully 
for twenty years when he sold out to L. M. Wellman in 1873. 
He was appointed sexton in 1853 and engaged in the under- 
taking business in 1869 which he continued until 1884. It is 
said that as sexton and undertaker he officiated at the burial 
of more than eighteen hundred persons. In 1862 he enlisted 
in Co. E Fifty-third Massachusetts regiment, and on Oct. 17 
of that year was made sergeant and went with his regiment to 
Louisiana; he was in the fight at the capture of Fort Bisland 
and in all the marches of the regiment and its engagements 
at the capture of Port Hudson, and returned with his regiment 
in health, Aug. 24, 1865. He was appointed a Justice of the 
Peace in 1863, and by successive appointments served until 
his death. He was also made a Notary Public in 1874, and was 
a Trial Justice from 1878 to 1884, when the First District Court 
of Northern Worcester was established, and was also a coroner 



528 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

from 1870 to 1877. He served the town of Athol in various 
town offices having been constable nineteen years, tax-collec- 
tor seven years, auditor three years and town treasurer one 
year. He was one of the enumerators of the United States 
Census of 1880 and the state census of 1875. Mr. Lewis was 
prominent in the Worcester-Northwest Agricultural society, 
having served as a secretary from 1864 to 1880, with the excep- 
tion of one year, and was president in 1882; he also represented 
the society as delegate to the state board of agriculture for 
three years. After retiring from the undertaking business in 
1884, he was engaged in the settling of estates and looking after 
his extensive real estate interests. He married Almira M. 
Jennison, daughter of Austin and Judith (Shaw) Jennison of 
Prescott, Mass., who was born Sept. 7, 1834; the wedding took 
place at the First Unitarian church, Athol Centre, July 4, 1852. 
They observed their golden wedding anniversary at Grange 
hall, Athol Centre, July 4, 1902, when the hall was filled with 
upwards of four hundred persons gathered to extend congrat- 
ulations to the worthy couple. They had one daughter, Etta 
J. Lewis, who married Dr. E. Ward Cooke, June 16, 1875. He 
is a dentist who commenced practice in Athol in 1875, where 
he remained for eight years going to Cambridge in 1883, and 
becoming a prominent dentist of that city. Mr. Lewis died 
Aug. 5, 1905. 



THE LUTHER HARRINGTON FAMILY 

Luther Harrington was born in Kirby, Vt., Oct. 21, 1809, 
the son of Daniel and Mary (Forrestall) Harrington. He was 
of the seventh generation in descent from Robert Harrington. 
His father died in early manhood leaving Luther and two 
younger children to the care of their widowed mother. At the 
age of six years he went to live with Col. Josiah Wheeler of South 
Royalston, whose wife was a sister of his mother. At the age 
of eighteen he apprenticed himself to Daniel Hubbard of Royal- 
ston to learn the carpenter's trade, and he bec£me a builder, 
but later was a manufacturer of pine furniture employing from 
four to ten hands. 

He married in Holden, Mass., Jan. 2, 1834, Sarah Nourse, 
who was born in Townsend, Vt., Aug. 13, 1812, the daughter 





SARAH (NOURSE) HARRINGTON 



DEA. LUTHER HARRINGTON 





CAROLINE E. (HARRINGTON) DEAVITT 



HENRY M. HARRINGTON 



THE LUTHER HARRINGTON FAMILY 529 

of William and Olive (Bragg) Nourse. She was of the sixth 
generation in descent from the immigrant ancestor Francis 
Nourse, whose wife, Rebecca, was a martyr of the Salem witch- 
craft delusion. When the Second Congregational church in 
South Royalston was organized in 1837, Mr. and Mrs. Harring- 
ton were among the first members. The Sunday school was or- 
ganized three years before, and Luther Harrington was its first 
treasurer and librarian, and as pupil, teacher or superintendent 
he had some part in its entire history as long as he lived. The 
church building was erected in 1837, and he was chairman of 
the building committee. He was early chosen as a deacon and 
continued so until his death for more than forty years. Sarah 
(Nourse)Harrington died Nov. 30, 1858. He married(2), in 1860, 
Mrs. S. T. F. Burrage, and after her death, he married Mrs. 
Harwood, who survived him. He died in South Royalston 
Dec. 8, 1886. The children of Luther and Sarah (Nourse) 
Harrington were: Henry Martyn and Caroline Ellen Harrington. 
Uenry Martyn Harrington, son of Luther and Sarah (Nourse) 
Harrington, was born in South Royalston, Mass., Dec. 27. 
1837. He received his early education in the schools of his 
native village, and finished his preparation for college at the 
academy in Brattleboro, Vt. He entered Middlebury college 
in the fall of 1856, where he remained two years, when he went 
to Amherst college as a junior and graduated with his class in 
1860. After graduation he engaged in the work of teaching 
and upwards of a year was principal of New Salem academy. 
In the spring of 1862, he was elected principal of the Spencer, 
Mass., high school where he remained four years, when he was 
appointed principal of one of the grammar schools of Worcester; 
Mass. In 1874 he was elected superintendent of schools at 
North Adams, Mass., where he remained two years, when he 
resigned to accept the superintendency of the schools of Bridge- 
port, Ct., which position he held until 1891, a period of fifteen 
years. 

He was the first superintendent of the Bridgeport schools. 
Previous to that time the schools had been conducted on the 
district plan, with eleven districts, each independent of the 
others with Its own system of management. As the executive 
officer of the board of education of the city he organized the 
schools under one system with a high school at the head after 
the Massachusetts plan. Since his retirement from the super- 



JJQ '■- HISTORY OF KOY ALSTON 

intendenc}' of the Bridgeport schools, he was engaged in 
various lines of business enterprises in that city. He had always 
taken an active interest in the public affairs of the city or town 
where he lived, although he never accepted any political 
office. He was interested in the religious activities of the 
Congregational churches where he lived, transferring his 
relation to the church in the place of his residence, and 
served as superintendent of Sunday schools in North Adams 
and Bridgeport. He was prominent in the Royal Arcanum, 
being a charter member of the Seaside Council of Bridgeport, and 
a Past Grand Regent of the Grand Council of the order in the 
state of Connecticut. On Aug. 22, 1861, he married H. Maria, 
daughter of Addison and Jane M. (Greenwood) Lovell of West 
Boylston, Mass. 

They had three children: Jessie, born at Spencer, April 
28, 1865, and Mabel, born at Worcester, Nov. 26, 1866, are 
both dead. Rosa Gertrude, born at Worcester Aug. 28, 1873, 
married Dec. 11, 1913, to Dwight M. Banks of Greenfield Hill, 
Ct., where they now reside. Henry Martyn Harrington died in 
Bridgeport, Ct., in 1915. 

Caroline Ellen Harrington was born in South Royalston, 
Sept. 26, 1841. After attending school in her home village, she 
went to Kimball Union academy, Meriden, N. H., where she 
graduated in 1862. She afterward attended Glenwood seminary 
at West Brattleboro, Vt., where she graduated with highest 
honors. She taught in the Orange county grammar school, 
before that became the Randolph, Vt., normal school and later 
in a woman's college in Ohio. Her pupils remember her as a 
teacher of unusual ability and a loyal friend. She married 
Thomas J. Deavitt of Montpelier, Vt., Jan. 19, 1870, and their 
residence was in Montpelier. Five children were born to them : 
Edward Harrington Deavitt, born Dec, 1, 1871, married Dec. 
25, 1901, Mary E. Trumblee, he has been state treasurer of 
Vermont; Henry M. Deavitt, born Sept. 18, 1874, married Sept. 
11, 1905, Grace P. Hugette, he resides in Chicago and is a chemist 
with large manufacturing interests; Carrie E. Deavitt, born 
Feb. 28, 1876, she is unmarried and lives at home in Montpelier; 
George T. Deavitt, born May 2, 1880, he is a stenographer in 
New York; William J. Deavitt, born Oct. 2, 1883, is a mining 
engineer in Mexico. All are college graduates, four from the 
University of Vermont. Although a devoted wife and mother, 



THE LUTHER HARRINGTON FAMILY 531 

Mrs. Deavitt never lost her deep interest in her church or in 
affairs of state and nation. She died Jan. 17, 1915, and her 
funeral was held Jan. 19th on the 4oth anniversary of her mar- 
riage. 



THE HALE FAMILY 

*S'//as Hale, the first one of the family to settle in Royalston 
was of the fifth generation from the immigrant ancestor, John 
Heald, which was one of the ancient ways of spelling the name- 
He was a son of Jacob Hale, and was born in Stow Oct. 13, 1748, 
and died in Royalston in 1832, aged 83 years. He settled in 
the South Village at the corner of the Templeton and Phillip- 
ston roads. The farm used to be in Phillipston and later was 
in Royalston. It became the property of Silas Hale, Jr., and 
later of Anan Stockwell, who married a daughter of Silas Hale, 
Jr. Her sister married Dr. Gould, a physician of South Royal- 
ston. The history of Royalston mentions a magnificent elm 
planted on the homestead by his son, Stephen, about 1790. 
The farm was owned for many years by Mr. Sylvander B. For- 
ristall. 

Silas Hale was a soldier in the Revolution. He married 
first at Stow, Lydia Stow in July, 1778, she died June 5, 1800, 
at Phillipston, He married, second, Hopa Rich at Royalston, 
Oct. 3, 1801. His will was dated Oct. 27, 1818, and was filed 
Oct. 3, 1832, and mentions his wife Hopa, his sons Stephen 
and Silas, and his daughter Lydia. He gave to Stephen the 
farm on Prospect Hill, above the village of South Royalston, 
since known as the Hale place, which he had bought of Ebenezer 
Newell, who succeeded David Fisher the original settler on this 
location, to Silas he gave the home place and to Lydia the Reals 
farm which he had bought of John Pierce. 

Sie-phen Hale was born in Stow June 6, 1779, and married 
in Phillipston Feb. 7, 1802, Susan Waldron, a daughter of Col. 
John Waldron of Dover, N. H. He settled on the home farm 
given him by his father, and which was in the Hale family for 
more than a century. He was proud of his alliance with a 
daughter of the famous Revolutionary officer and statesman, 
and named his first child John Waldron Hale, born April 1, 
1804. The other children of Stephen and Susan (Waldron) 



532 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

Hale were: Eliza, born Nov. 30, 1805, married Abel Mannings 
June 22, 1820; Mary Rebekah, born Aug. 24, 1807, married 
Silas Hale of 8towe, April 8, 1835; Stephen, Jr., born Jan. 16, 
1813, died June 26, 1815; Susanna, born June 26, 1815, married 
Arnold Wilson; a daughter born April 16, 1821, died the next 
day. Mrs. Susan (Waldron) Hale died Oct. 2, 1835, aged 
fifty-three; Stephen married, second, Mary G. Brooks, who 
survived him. He died Feb. 6, 1855, aged seventy-six. 

John Waldron Hale, the first child and only surviving son 
of Stephen and Susan (Waldron) Hale, was born at South Roy- 
alston, and married March 27, 1839, Betsey Evans of Rocking- 
ham, Vt., a daughter of Randall and Betsey (Walker) Evans. 
He settled on the home farm and continued the pursuit of 
general farming. The children of John and Betsey were: John 
Randall, born May 27, 1840; Charles Silas, born Jan. 30, 1842, 
died March 7, 1899; Stephen Winn, born Jan 22, 1844, died 
Jan. 21, 1899; Emma Jane, born March 14, 1852, and Samuel 
Walker, born Sept. 10, 1854, died 1888. John Waldron Hale 
died July 3, 1878, aged seventy-four. Betsy (Evans) Hale died 
April 15, 1901, aged eighty-one. 

John Randall Hale, oldest child of John and Betsey Hale, 
was born in South Royalston, May 24, 1840, and died there 
March 17, 1905. He followed farming with his father in his early 
life, and succeeded his father on the home farm. He became a 
highly prosperous farmer, also a well-known auctioneer, his 
services being in great demand at auctions all through this 
section of the state. He was a typical New England farmer of 
the Joshua Whitcomb type and had the respect and confidence 
of his fellow townsmen, serving the town as overseer of the poor, 
assessor and was a member of the board of selectmen for eight 
years. He was a member of the Tully Lodge of Odd Fellows of 
Athol. He married Dec. 23, 1868, Edna Elvira Boynton, 
daughter of Alfred Boynton. They had one son, Alfred Randall 
Hale, born at South Royalston, Aug. 4, 1875. He attended 
the schools at South Royalston and graduated at Gushing 
academy. He followed farming in early life and removed to 
Springfield, Mass., April 1, 1906. While in Royalston he was 
active in town affairs and was a member of the school committee 
from 1899 until he removed from town. He married Garrie 
Graham of Richmond, Quebec, Ganada. They now reside 
in Gahfornia. On the death of his mother, in 1907, he sold the 



THE HALE FAMILY JJJ 

farm, and this place, the home of four generations of Hales, 
became the property of others. The other sons of John and 
Betsey Hale removed from town and married, but no children 
survive them. 

Emma Jane Hale, an only daughter, became a teacher at 
the age of sixteen, and conducted the district schools of South 
Royalston and in Stowe. She entered the state normal school 
at Bridgewater where she graduated in January, 1873. She 
immediately obtained a fine position in the schools of Cambridge, 
Mass., but within a year, however, she married Frederick Orin 
Ellis, master of the Bigelow school in Boston and removed to 
Swampscott, Mass., The first child of this union, Walter Fred- 
erick Ellis, was born, April 4, 1876, at the ancestral home of his 
mother's parents in Royalston. He graduated from Harvard 
college with the class of 1900, and has been for several years 
connected with a Boston banking house. He married Nov. 
17, 1905, Florence Emma Hirt of New York city and has one 
daughter, Sidonia Hirt Ellis: Other children of Emma (Hale) 
Ellis born near Boston are: Robert Hale, born April 4, 1876; 
Anna Hale, born June 3, 1883; and Miriam, born May 18, 1888. 



THE RICH FAMILY. 

The Rich Family of South Royalston, who were prominent 
in the life of that village for more than half a century, are of 
ancient English origin. As early as A. D. 1236, Edmund Rich 
was the Archbishop of Canterbury. Baron Richard Rich, who 
was born in London in 1498, was a poor barrister of humble 
family, who rose to fame, became a wealthy nobleman and 
founded one of the most powerful families in England. His 
sons were the Earls of Warwick and Holland. 

(1) Richard Rich, the immigrant ancestor, was born in Eng- 
land. He appeared first in New England at Dover Neck, later 
settled on Cape Cod and died in 1692 in Eastham, Mass. The 
first member of the family to appear in this section was Thatcher 
Rich (5) of the fifth generation, son of Zaccheus Rich. He was 
born at Truro, Mass., in 1739, and died at Phillipston, Mass., 
February 23, 1817, aged seventy-eight years. He was an early 
settler in the town of Phillipston. 



5i/ HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

(VI) Thatcher Rich, Jr., son of Thatcher Rich (5), was born in 
Phillipston, April 22, 1790. He settled on a farm in Phillipston 
when a young man. He married, May 8, 1817, Phebe Ward, 
granddaughter of General Artemas Ward of Shrewsbury. The 
children of Thatcher and Phebe (Ward) Rich were: Lewis 
Damon, born July 3, 1818; Thomas Walter, born May 1, 1820; 
Benjamin Ward, born Sept. 27, 1821; Anna Raymond, born 
May, 182.3, died April 16, 1825; Jeremiah Atkins, born May 8, 
1825; Phebe Ann, born Aug. 22, 1826; George, born Sept. 20, 
1828; John Elliot, born Nov. 3, 1830; Harriet and Harrison, 
(twins), born Sept. 20, 1835. 

Benjamin Ward Rich, son of Thatcher Rich, Jr., was born 
in Phillipston, Sept. 29, 1821. He was educated in the common 
schools. He conducted a general store in South Royalston for 
many years, represented this district in the General Court, was 
selectman of Royalston and at various times held nearly all the 
town offices. He was well-known in musical circles as a con- 
ductor of bands and orchestras in the vicinity. Was an upright 
man and highly esteemed by all his townsmen. He married 
Lydia B. Witt of Royalston. Mr. Rich died July 5, 1900. Their 
children, all born in Royalston were: Benjamin Warren, born 
Sept. 12, 1847; Jeremiah Edward, born Dec. 22, 1849; Marcia 
Jeannette, born February, 1857; Charles Witt, born May 19, 
1860. 

(VII) Jeremiah Atkins Rich, son of Thatcher Rich, Jr., was 
born in Phillipston, May 8, 1825. His earh^ hfe was spent on his 
father's farm in Phillipston and on a farm in South Royalston. 
When a young man he worked at the trade of a bridge builder 
on the Cheshire and Vermont and Massachusetts railroads. In 
1850 he went to the gold mines of California in company with 
Captain John Whitmore and several other citizens of South 
Royalston. He remained there about five years, and then re- 
turned to the village where he was associated with Charles 
Bowker in the business of chair making. Later he became 
superintendent of George Whitney's Chair Manufacturing 
business in South Royalston, which position he held until the 
business was discontinued in 1893. He then retired from active 
business, dying in November, 1899. For over forty years he 
was a prominent and influential citizen of South Royalston. 
He was Representative to the General Court, was Selectman and 
served the town in various other offices of trust and honor. He 











HRNJAMIN W. RICH 



JEREMIAH A. RICH 





B. WARREN RICH 



JEREMIAH E. RICH 



THE RICH FAMILV^ 53S 

was a prominent member and supporter of the Second Congre- 
gational Church and was clerk of the society for several years. 
He married Susan Kendall of Royalston, who died in 1903 with- 
out issue. 

(VIII) Benjamin Warren Rich, son of Benjamin Ward 
Rich (7) was born in Royalston Sept. 12, 1847. When but 
twelve years old he began to work out of school hours in his 
father's store, later he worked with his father in the business, 
and on the death of his father succeeded to it, the business being 
that of a general country store. Like his father, he was active 
in town affairs, was three years on the board of selectmen, 
served on the board of health, and was a trustee in charge of the 
Bartlett fund. For nearly ten years he was postmaster of the 
South Royalston post office. He was a member of the various 
Masonic organizations. He married S. Ardella Farrar, daugh- 
ter of S. S. Farrar of Royalston. She died March 27, 1900. He 
married, second, Mrs. Irene (Foster) Fuller of Athol. He had 
no children by either wife. He died June 11, 1911. 

Charles Witt Rich, son of Benjamin and Lydia (Witt) Rich, 
was born in Royalston, May 19, 1860. He received his early 
education in the schools of Royalston and later took a commer- 
cial course at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College in Boston. 
He was for twelve years associated with Bradford Thomas, 
wholesale dry goods merchant of Boston, and later became a 
travelling salesman for the Frederick H. Sprague Co., clothing 
manufacturers of Orange, Mass. In 1900 he established at 
Athol a general dry goods business of which the specialty is the 
handling of remnants. He is a prominent Mason. He married 
August 27, 1892, Jennie M. Hughes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
Webster Hughes of Enfield, N. H. 

Jeremiah Edward Rich, son of Benjamin Ward and Lydia 
(Witt) Rich, was born in South Royalston, Dec. 22, 1849. He 
attended the common schools of the village and then went to 
work for Colonel Whitnej^ in his chair shop, where he was em- 
ployed for twenty-seven years. He was then with L. Green- 
wood & Co., for five years and drove a bread team for a while, 
after which he returned to South Royalston and worked in the 
grocery store of his brother, B. Warren Rich, for many years, 
until the business was closed out in 1911. He has for a number 
of years been janitor of Mechanics hall and the school rooms. 



5J<5 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

He married Florence A. Marcy of Claremont, N. H., Nov. 20, 
1878, who died Dec. 24, 1900. They had no children. 

Marcia Jeannetfe Rich, daughter of Benjamin Ward and 
Lydia (Witt) Rich, was born in February, 1857; she married, 
first, F. D. Stoekwell, and second, N. McDonald. She resides 
in South Boston and has two children. 

George Thatcher Rich, son of Thatcher Rich, Jr., was born in 
Phillipston Sept. 30, 1828. When a young man he went to Athol 
and learned the machinist's trade of Nathaniel Richardson in 
the old red shop. He moved to South Royalston and then to 
Phillipston on to the old Rich farm. While in South Royalston 
he was mechanic in the old woolen mill. He worked for the 
Hey woods in Gardner for two or three years, and about 1868 
went to Fitchburg, where he was foreman of the repair shops 
of the old Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad. He was a 
prominent musician and well-known throughout western Massa- 
chusetts as a Band Leader; while in South Royalston he was 
leader of the South Royalston Brass Band, and when in Gardner 
organized the Gardner Band. He was one of the organizers of 
the Fitchburg Cornet Band, which was organized March 26, 
1868, and was its leader and director until Jan. 16, 1871; the 
first public appearance of the Band was with the Fitchburg 
Fusihers, May 27, 1868. He also played for dances about 
twenty-five years. He married Frances Johnson of Vershire, 
Vt.; they had four children: Frederick, born in Athol, April 11, 
1854; Sarah Elizabeth, born in South Royalston, June 13, 1856; 
Thatcher, born in Phillipston, Jan. 1, 1858 and Edith, born in 
PhilHpston, Dec. 6, 1860. Frederick married Emma Harrington 
of Fitchburg, and married second, Mrs. Carrie McCormick. 
He has been an engineer on the Fitchburg Railroad forty-four 
years, and ran for many years on one of the express trains. He 
now resides in Athol. Thatcher was also an engineer on the 
Fitchburg road and lives in Fitchburg; he married Miss Dora 
Fairbanks of Peterboro, N. H. Sarah EHzabeth has been for 
many years a leading milliner of Athol and Edith, who married 
first, W. H. Longley of Fitchburg, and second, Charles Eaton, 
now resides in Athol. 

THE BACHELLER FAMHIES. 

There are several Bacheller families who have been connected 
with Roj^alston history, the name being ^pelled in four different 



THE BACHELLER FAMILIES 537 

ways accordino- to the several families: (Bacheller, Bachellor, 
Bachelor and Batcheller.) 

It is said there were four brothers, who came from England, 
and as they separated and went their different ways they made 
the agreement to spell their names in these different ways, 
which makes it difficult and complicated in some instances in 
tracing the several families. We shall not attempt to follow out 
all of these families, but give sketches of some who have been 
identified with Royalston history. 

John Bacheller, Major, Esciuire and Deacon, from Reading, 
settled north of the Isaac Metcalf or Mosman place. He was 
born in Haverhill and married Margaret Swain of Reading 
Nov. 13, 1766. He removed to Royalston from Reading, bring- 
ing his wife and five children, six m.ore were afterwards added 
to this number. He buried his wife in 1810 and removed to 
Warwick to live with his son, Thomas, where he died. His son, 
Thomas, married Lucy Bartlett Dec. 4, 1796. Hannah, the 
first of his family born in Royalston, married Jonas Bartlett, 
and was the mother of John N. Bartlett. He was a resident of 
Royalston some thirty-five years and during that time was 
prominent in town affairs, having been one of the early Town 
Clerks, serving in 1790, '92 and '93 and was one of the Select- 
men for four years. His son, John Jr., married Martha Work, 
Sept. 30, 1790, and a daughter, Sally, married David Parks, 
Feb. 2, 1806. 



THE SILAS W. BATCHELLOR FAMILY. 

Silas W. BatcheUor, grandfather of George S. Batchellor of 
Gardner, moved from Bethlehem, N. H., in the year 1829 to a 
farm in Royalston Center, and later to a farm near South Royals- 
ton on a cross road; no buildings are now standing on the place. 
This cross road leads from the main road from South Royalston 
to Royalston Center, branching off at the Harrington farm and 
running over the hills to South Royalston. The house was taken 
down in pieces by George Batchellor and his father and erected 
in South Royalston in 1869, standing about opposite the place 
known as the Roby Safford house. Silas W. Batchellor married 
Rhoda Goddard of Royalston. They had eleven children. 
Silas W. Batchellor died in 1880, aged eighty-nine years, and his 
wife in 1887, aged ninety-three. 



338 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Isaac Batchellor was twelve years old when his father, Silas 
W., came to Royalston. He lived on the farm and attended 
school in the Cutler district. At twenty-one he learned the 
carpenter's trade, and for some time was associated with John 
King in the business. He worked at his trade all his life. He 
married Mary Ann Sherwin, May 7, 184.5. They had one son, 
George S. Bataheller. Mrs. Batchellor died in 1851, and he mar- 
ried, second, Lorinda Bailey of Ludlow, Vt., in 1852. They had 
two children, Fred L. and Mabel L. He moved to Baldwinville 
in 1882, where he died in October, 1900, aged 82; his wife died 
August, 1900, aged 72. 

George S. Batchellor was born in South Royalston in 1850, 
attended school in the old school house on the hill, and Dis- 
trict No. 10. He worked at the carpenter's trade with his father 
until twenty-one. In 1871 he married Alida F. Rice of Orange, 
and took up his residence in Gardner, where he now lives. 



THE SHERWIN FAMILY. 

Arha Sherwin and Eunice Coffin, both of Winchendon were 
married Dec. 20, 1819, and soon after settled near South Royals- 
ton in the Holman District. He was one of the Assessors in 
1827 and 1841, and one of the Selectmen in 1837. Their children 
were : Mary Ann, Lucy Elmira, George Percival, Phebe Brown 
and Arba. 

Mary Ann Sherwin, the oldest child, born Sept. 20, 1820, 
married Isaac Bachellor of South Royalston, May 7, 1845, and 
always lived in that place. They had one son, George S. Bach- 
ellor. 

Lucy Elmira Sherwin, born Dec. 22, 1822, died Sept. 17, 
1833. 

George Percival Sherwin, son of Arba and Eunice (Coffin) 
Sherwin, was born in South Royalston, Jan. 6, 1825. He at- 
tended school in the Neal or old Holman District and at South 
Royalston. He worked on the farm until twenty-one years of 
age and then went to Rindge, N. H., and worked in a wood-turn- 
ing shop, also in Winchendon. After six years he returned to 
South Royalston and carried on a country store for two or three 
years, and then engaged in the livery business for three years, 
when he returned to Winchendon and was Superintendent for 



THE SHERWIN FAMILY 539 

E. Murdock k Co., in their lumber yard about fifteen years 
wlien he went to Orange, which has been his home for more than 
forty years. He became a member of the firm of Sherwin, Dew- 
ing & Lord, in the manufacture of furniture, in which he con- 
tinued until the factory was burned about 1897, when he retired 
from business. He never wished for public office, but was for a 
number of years one of the Library Committee of Orange, and 
one of the first Park Commissioners of the town, Ijeing the first 
one to set out a tree on the Park. 

He does not belong to any society of any kind but has al- 
ways been a constant attendant of the Congregational church, 
and an active temperance worker. He married Clementina 
Howe of Rindge, N. H. They have one son, Arthur H. Sherwin, 
who makes his home with his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Sherwin 
observed the 65th anniversary of their marriage in 1916. 



ADDISON SHERWIN FAMILY. 

Addison Sherwin, l)orn in Templeton, Oct. 5, 1821, married 
Amanda Partridge, daughter of Hervey Partridge. They lived 
in New York State and Warwick for several years and came to 
South Royalston in March, 1857, which was their home during 
the remainder of their lives, Mrs. Sherwin dying March 25, 1879 
and Mr. Sherwin Oct. 11, 1883. Their children were: Robert 
Addison, born Sept. 21, 1846, he worked in the shops of South 
Royalston and married Lydia E. Patch, daughter of Edwin 
Patch, Oct. 21, 1869. They had one daughter, born Oct. 11, 
1879. They lived in South Royalston until 1889, when they re- 
moved to Cambridge, where Mr. Sherwin engaged in the paint- 
ing and paper-hanging business. Mrs. Sherwin died May 14, 
1909. 

Oleana A., born Sept. 15, 1848, died Aug. 29, 1880. Frederic 
Hervey, born Sept. 1, 1851: he is a farmer in Lunenburg. George 
Henr}', born Aug. 29, 1853: is a salesman at the Jordan & Marsh 
store, Boston, and lives in Atlantic. Flora E., born May 8, 
18)6, married Frederick L. Drury Sept. 25, 1838. Their home 
is in Fitchburg. 

MELANCTHON SHERWIN FAMILY. 

Another Sherwin family, who made their home in South 
Rovalston for several vears was that of Melancthon Sherwin. 



^40 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

who was born in Winchenlon on the shores of Lake Eennison 
in the house occupied for a number of years as a Children's 
Home. He was born Jan. 2(5, 1810. During his early hfe he 
lived for a time in'Mississippi during slavery days and had charge 
of a plantation. He returned from the South to Boston, where 
he secured a position and where he met and married Lucinda 
Hudson of Vermont. After living in Boston for a while, they 
went to Vermont, where two children were l)orn to them. Lucy 
Gertrude, born. April 29, 1849 and Lyman Harrington, born 
Aug.- 19, 1854. The family removed to North Orange, Mass., 
where Mary Abbie Sherwin was born July 31, 1859. In 1866 
the family moved to South Royalston for the purpose of caring 
for Mr. Sherwin's mother and her hus))and, she having married 
for her second husband, Edson Clark. 



THE WHITMORE FAMILIES. 

Three Whitmores, presumal:)ly brothers, settled not far from 
school house No. 9. Only cellar holes mark the places of two of 
the homes, while the third is now the residence of A. W. Neal. 

Capt. Enoch Whitmore was from Acton. He was a soldier 
in the war of the Revolution, serving several years. He mar- 
ried Sally, daughter of Josiah Waite, May 31, 1790. They had 
six children: Sally, born March 31, 1792; Rhoda, born May 10, 
1794; Arven, born Aug. 4, 1796; Tamerzin, born Aug. 13, 1798; 
Polly, born Jan. 6, 1802, and Joseph, born March 17, 1804. 
Sally, the oldest daughter, married Timothy Lewis, Esq., Feb. 1, 
1811. Rhoda, the second daughter, married Edward Whitney, 
of Gerry, Nov. 8, 1812. Joseph died March 16, 1805 and Polly 
Nov. 15, 1837. 

Isaac Whitmore was an early, if not the earliest owner of 
the present Neal farm and built the present square substantial 
farm house. He married Rebecca Piper, Dec. 20, 1792. They 
had eight children born to them: Rebecca, born July 15, 1793, 
married Israel Knights, March 30, 1810; Sally, l)orn March 22, 
1796, married Jason Knights of Phillipston Nov. 8, 1812, by 
whom she had fourteen children, one of whom, Rosanna, married 
Wilder Cross of South Royalston and now survives at the age 
of 84, the mother of Senator Fred W. Cross. In later life Isaac 



THE WHITMORE FAMILIES 541 

bought the Moses Town farm, north of the Lawrence meadows, 
and there spent his latter years. 

J ohn Whitmore, also a Revolutionary soldier, settled just 
east from Isaac on the south side of the road leading to New Bos- 
ton and near the foot of the hill east of No. 9 school house. He 
had several children, the best known of whom was Capt. John 
Whitmore, who was one of the early manufacturers of South 
Royalston, and also one of the California Forty-Niners. 



THE JONES FAMILY. 

A7nos Jones came from Acton in 1763 and settled north of 
what was the Cutting or Cummings place. A good moose story 
is told of him. He was out looking up his cattle and hearing a 
crashing among the underbrush supposed them to be at hand, 
but instead of his cattle a huge moose came forth and confronted 
him. His trusty gun soon put an end to the moose, whose side 
he afterwards converted into a pair of leather breeches and a 
side saddle. The breeches he wore himself; but upon the side 
saddle he pursuaded one Lydia Wooley of Acton, to ride home 
with him and take permanent possession of the saddle and his 
domestic affairs, their marriage taking place Oct. 11, 1770. They 
had a family of six children: Amos, born July 9, 1773; Lydia, 
born April 26, 1775; Elizabeth, born March 6, 1777; Susana, 
born Feb. 12, 1779; Silas, born Nov. 22, 1780, and Reuben l)orn 
Oct. 9, 1782. He sold the first place where he settled and bought 
the place south of the Cutler farm, now owned by Lemon. He 
died March 21 1826, at the age of eighty-four years. Reuben 
Jones married Mary Davis, Feb. 16, 1815, and Susana married 
Joseph Godard of Athol, Jan. 10, 1811. Elizabeth Jones never 
married, she was known as Aunt Betsey Jones and lived to be 
one hundred years old. 

Silas Jones, second son of Amos and Lydia (Wooley) Jones, 
succeeded h"s father on the farm, and did an extensive business 
in farming, having one of the best farms in this part of the coun- 
try. He raised ninety bushels of corn to the acre, and two years 
in succession harvested four hundred bushels of corn besides 
other grain. One year having cleared a large wood lot and put 
it into rye, he had twelve hundred bushels of rye in addition to 
four hundred bushels of other grain. Once he slaughtered a cow 



342 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

from his own herd, whose net weght was ten hundred antl 
twenty-five pounds. He was promirent in town affairs, was one 
of the Selectmen of the town from 1821 to 1839 inclusive, with 
the exception of four years, and was one of the Assessors for 
nine years. He married Mrs. Rebeckah Sawyer of Templeton, 
Dec. 2, 1811. Their children were: Silas, born Sept. 24, 1812; 
Willard, born Oct. 25, 1813; Hannah, born March 30, 1815; 
Elmore, born May 18, 1816; Aaron, born May 16, 1820; Alden, 
born Nov. 7, 1824; Elmira, born Sept. 30, 1825, and Elnathan, 
born Feb. 7, 1829. 

Silas, Jones, Jr., married Mary Smith of Winchendon, July 4, 
1842. She died Nov. 8, 1846, and he married, second, Sarah 
Cudworth of Putney, Vt., July 22, 1848. A daughter by his first 
wife, Ellen N. Jones, born Sept. 30, 1844, married Winfield S. 
Stockwell of Athol. She died in Athol May 2, 1915. 

Hannah Jones married Daniel Foster, March 11, 1837. 
Elmer Jones died Jan. 16, 1833, at the age of sixteen years, and 
Elmira Jones married John C. Bartlett of Gardner, Nov. 27, 
1844. 

Dea. Aaron Jones, son of Silas and Rebeckah (Sawyer) Jones 
was born May 16, 1820. He succeeded his father on the fine old 
farm overlooking South Royalston village, and was one of the 
most prominent and progressive farmers of his day. He was for 
many years a Deacon of the Congregational church of South 
Royalston. He married Mary Ann Byam of Fitzwilliam, N. H., 
in July, 1845. He had a son, Leander W. Jones, who was for a 
number of years a member of the firm of Murdock & Jones, mer- 
chants at South Royalston, afterwards he engaged in the cattle 
business in Colorado, and later was in business in Leominster, 
where he died Nov. 25, 1883, of typhoid fever. A daughter, 
Clara, married Homer T. Rice, and her home is in Leominster, 
Mass., where Deacon Aaron Jones died Oct. 26, 1894. 
Elnathan Jones was a carpenter and lived in Athol. 



LUTHER BOWKER FAMILY. 

Luther Bowker, youngest child of Luther and Betsey Bowker, 
was born in Winchendon, Jan. 22, 1826. He married Charlotte 
Newton Maynard, daughter of Oren and Huldah Maynard, 
Sept. 2, 1850. They had three children: Cora Hattie. born in 



THE LUTHER BOWKER FAMILY 543 

Gardner, Feb. 18, 1852; Edwin Luther, born in Winchendon, 
Dec. 11, 1854, and Albert Monroe, born in South Royalston, 
June 14, 1858. Mr. Bowker was a mechanic and made his home 
in South Royalston for many years, and died in that place Feb. 1, 
1884, of valvular disease of the heart, and his wife, Charlotte N. 
Bowker, died in Spring;field, Vt., July 3, 1S88. 

Cora H. Bouker was married in South Royalston, Dec. 9 to 
Charles H. Evans, a son of Alden Evans of Royalston. He has 
been engaged for many years in the wood, coal, ice and hay busi- 
ness. Their home is in Baldwinville. 

Edwin Luther Bowker, oldest son of Luther and Charlotte 
(Maynard) Bowker. He came with his parents to South Roy- 
alston when but a few years old, and his education was obtained 
in the South Royalston schools. When a young man he went 
to Templeton and in 1882 he became associated with his brother- 
in-law, Charles H. Evans, in the wood, coal, ice and hay busi- 
ness, under the firm nam.e of Evans & Bowker, which for more 
than twenty-five years transacted a large and profitable busi- 
ness. He served for fifteen years as highway surveyor, and has 
held all the important offices of the local tribe of Red Men. 
He is also a member of the Odd Fellows. He married Lucy F. 
Wood in Royalston, Feb. 19, 1882; they had two sons, Floyd 
Luther, born Oct. 13, 1883, and Lee Edwin, born April 23, 1885. 
Lucy Wood Bowker died May 25, 1887, and Lee Edwin Bowker 
died May 9, 1899. Mr. Bowker married, second, Mary E. 
Darrah, in Baldwinville, May 28, 1892. Their children are: 
Roy Clement, born May 15, 1893, and Ruth Charlotte, born 
March 11, 1896. Floyd Luther Bowker married Ethel May 
Field in Fitchbnrg, Nov. 5, 1912. 

Albeit M.Eowker, youngest child of Luther and Charlotte 
(Maynard) Bowker, married Kate Bishop of Baldwinville, Feb. 
5, 1881. They had a daughter, Cora Lillian, born Aug. 25, 
1881, who married Edwin L. Hersey in Baldwinville, Oct. 24, 
1911. They reside in Athol. Mr. Bowker died Dec. 18, 1903. 



BRASIER H. FRENCH FAMILY 

Brasier H. French, for many years engaged in the Livery 
Stable business in South Royalston, was born in Orange, Mass., 
July 14, 1834. He married Sara Jane Eddy, Nov. 1, 1856, at 



544- HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

South Royalston; two children were born to them: Herbert 
Walter, born Aug. 6, 1858, and Sumner Clayton, born March 8; 
1865. Brazier H. French died in Worcester, Jan. 23, 1905. 

Herbert Walter French attended the South Royalston schools 
after which he worked in the chair shop of Col. Whitney until 
that business was closed up; he then entered the store at Royals- 
ton Centre, working for his brother, Sumner C. French, from 1899 
until 1906, when he entered business for himself at North Salem, 
N. H., in a general country store, where he remained four years 
and was also the Postmaster of the village. He sold his business 
on account of sickness in his family, and is now living at Cano- 
bie Lake, N. H., and is a traveling salesman. He was married 
on Dec. 15, 1887, to NelHe Orissa Gilmore of West Royalston, 
and they have seven children, all born in Royalston. 

Sutmier Clayton French, youngest son of Brazier H. French, 
has been the postmaster and proprietor of the store at Royalston 
Centre since 1900. He was married June 1, 1887, to Ada Mellen, 
of Royalston. They have two children. Hazel Lillis, born June 
7, 1888, and Mildred Almira, born Sept. 7, 1890. 



THE STOCKWELLS 

William Stockwell the immigrant ancestor of the Stockwell 
families of Sutton and Royalston was born in England about 
1650. The family tradition has it that he was enticed on board 
ship when a young lad and followed the sea after serving his 
apprenticeship in the old fashioned way. It is said that he was 
Scotch and born in Scotland, l)ut the name is unc}uestionably 
English. 

Capfian John Stockicell, son of William Stockwell was born 
in Ispwich about 1687 and died at Sutton, Mass., March 29, 
1778 aged 91 years. He married in 1717, Mary Lombard, soon 
after coming to Sutton. He was a soldier in Capt. Wain- 
wright's company from which he was discharged with sixteen 
others, July 16, 1707. • He became Captain after settling in Sutton. 
This John Stockwell and his son John, Jr., were among the 
first purchasers of land in this town, having purchased of Caleb 
Dana and the other proprietors when the township was known 
as Royalshire. Their purchase was made September 27, 1753, 
consisting of two hundred acres and included lot No. 16 in the 



THE STOCKVVELLS 5/J 

south part of the town. Capt. Stock well was then sixty-six 
years old, and it was evidently intended for his son who was in 
his forties, but John Jr., died in 1765, never leaving Sutton ap- 
parently. Part of the land was sold to Capt. John's second son, 
Daniel, in 1763, and he settled there soon after. 

Daniel Stockwell (3), son of Capt. John (2) was born about 
1719 in Sutton probably. He was a cordwainer by trade. 
He resided in Sutton until about 1763 when he settled in Royals- 
ton. He bought his land of his father and brother John Jr., 
one hundred and thirty acres; the land is described as being 
bounded by land of Benjamin Woodbury and John Howard, 
and the deed was dated September 27, 1763. He sold 85 acres 
of land to his son Moses Stockwell May 13, 1777, Moses being 
of Northfield although he returned to Royalston and had 
lived there before. He was of Royalston March 5, 1768, when 
Daniel conveyed him land in Royalston. Moses had three 
children born in Royalston before he went to Northfield; Abner 
born December 13, 1768; Hannah, born December 10, 1770; 
Daniel, born December 1, 1772; Sarah, born November 8, 1774; 
Moses, Jr., born March 8, 1777. He married Sarah Peirce at 
Royalston, October 15, 1768. Daniel Stockwell bought of 
William Town of Royalston, 90 acres near Deacon Woodbury's 

land June 2, 1773. Daniel Stockwell (3) married Miriam 

and their children were: Moses of Northfield and Royalston, 
Abraham and Abigail who married at Royalston August 15, 1768, 
Benajah Woodbury. 

Daniel Stockwell (4) was born about 1745 probably in Sutton. 
He died in Royalston February 13, 1817. He married October 
6, 1767 Rebecca Warren at Westboro. They had twelve children, 
all born in Westboro. He went back to Royalston to live after 
all the children were born, probably about 1790. Most of the 
children of these families settled in other towns. 

Joseph Stockwell, who also came from Sutton, purchased 
the south part of the Rogers Chase farm. He and his wife died 
in 1816 aged eighty-six and eighty-seven years. They brought 
up a large family; several of their children settled in town, from 
whom have sprung the numerous families of this name. Their 
son Judah settled at home. He married Sally Cutler November 
29, 1791 and their children were: Joseph, born June 11, 1792; 
Jonathan, born December 22, 1793; Tarrant, born January 19, 
1795: Rebecca, born January 12, 1798; Emmons, born October 



546 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

21, 1802; Luke, born October 31, 1804; Elvira, born November 
17, 1807; and Betsey and Sally born November 13, 1799. 

Joseph Stockivell married Dorothy Drury of Athol March 26, 
1821, they had two daughters; Jonathan never married; Tarrant 
Stockwell married Susan Cutler of Royalston, they moved to 
Vermont and died there leaving no children; Rebecca married 
Samuel Delvy of Warwick; Emynons Stockwell married Elvira 
Wood, a sister of John Wood, September 20, 1831, and suc- 
ceeded his father on the farm. He died October 14, 1849 at the 
age of a few days less than forty-seven years. His children 
were: John Wood, born September 16, 1834: Sylvester, born 
July 24, 1843, who died at the age of a little more than six years; 
Winfield S., born November 5, 1845; Francis E., who married 
Hattie Hale of Winchendon, moved to Vermont and later to 
Nebraska and Wisconsin; and Chester Twitchell who became a 
prominent dentist in Springfield, Mass. A sketch of him appears 
in another chapter. 

Luke Stockwell never married; Betsey Stockwell married Seth 
Twitchell of Athol May 6, 1822, and they had three children: 
Salhj Stockwell married Chester Twitchell of Athol June 10, 1823, 
they had two children, who lived to grow up, one of whom is 
Elbridge Twitchell of South Royalston; Elvira Stockwell married 
Alfred W. Boynton July 6, 1836, they had one child, Edna Elvira, 
who married John Randall Hale of South Royalston, December 
23, 1868. 

John Wood Stockwell, son of Emmons and Elvira (Wood) 
Stockwell, was born in Royalston September 16, 1834. His 
home was on the original Stockwell farm settled by his great- 
grandfather about 1763. He was one of the most prominent 
farmers of Royalston and at the time of his death owned four 
hundred acres made up of three farms. He was one of the most 
prominent members of the Second Congregational Church of 
South Royalston, and was an active worker in the same. He 
married Maria C. Adams, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas 
Adams of Lowell, Mass. Mr. Stockwell died July 3, 1915, and 
Mrs. Stockwell, July 24, 1915. 

Winfield S. Stockwell, son of Emmons and Elvira (Wood) 
Stockwell, was born in Royalston, November 5, 1845. He 
married Ellen A. Jones, daughter of Silas Jones Jr., of South 
Royalston. He resided in South Royalston about two years, 
and then went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he remained al)out 



THE STOCKWELLS 547 

four and one-half years, and then went to Athol which has since 
been his home. He was employed in the Richardson machine 
shop about eighteen years, and was with the L. S. Starrett Co. 
four or five years. He has for several years been engaged in the 
manufacture of levels and transits, having a shop at his residence 
on Drury Avenue. He has two children, IVIary, who married 
Charles Ingalls and Gertrude M. who married C. Eugene Tandy. 
Mrs. Stockwell died May 2, 1915. 

George Stockwell, son of Reuben and Betsey (Chase) Stock- 
well, was born December 20, 1818. He married Sabra Bosworth 
June 26, 1843; their children were: Warren U., born May 9, 
1844, died 1909; George Henry, born October 11, 1845, lived in 
Westminster, Mass.; Reuben H., born March 31, 1847, resides 
in Worcester; Joseph F., born May 15, 1849, married December 
22, 1874, Miss Ellen Lewis of Winchendon. He lived on a farm 
near the Winchendon line, and on other farms in Royalston, was 
treasurer of Royalston Grange for several years, died March 25, 
1913, he had two children, Myron E. Stockwell and Cora E.; 
William S. born September 17, 1850; Chloe Maria, born July 29, 
1852, married Walter A. Hartwell of Fitchburg, Mass. Sara/j 
A., born April 4, 1854, married Ansel Bishop of Keene, N. H.; 
Martha A., born April 19, 1856, married Joel H. Sibley, December 
3, 1882, they have resided in Gardner, Winchendon and Worcester, 
and their home is now in Leominster, they have one daughter. 

He married, second, Mary Prouty. 

The children of George and Mary (Prouty) Stockwell were: 
Edu-ard S., born March 3, 1858, lived in Templeton; Mary Jane, 
born May 30, 1860, died 1880: Ellen E., born October 16, 1862, 
married L. N. Cleveland of Baldwin ville, Mass.; James Frederic 
born August 29, 1865, resides in South Framingham; Franklin B., 
born July 4, 1867, married Clara E. Holmes of Millbury, Mass- 
June 19, 1891. He has resided in Winchendon for nearly thirty- 
years, they have three daughters Gertrude E., Myrtle 0., and 
Grace A.; Hattie E., born April 23, 1869, died 1908; Walter A., 
born April 18, 1872, resides in Baldwinville. 

Simeon Stockwell married Sarah Nichols, August 25, 1788. 
Their children were: Reuben, born June 7, 1789, Isaac, born 
November, 1790, Simeon, born April 13, 1795, Sally, born 
December 23, 1798, Freeman, born December 26, 1800, Ammi, 
born June 1, 1806. 



548 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Reuben Stockwell married Betsy Chase April 24, 1817, their 
children were: George, Ijorn, December 20, 1818 and Maria, born 
October 1, 1821, Marie married Rev. Warren Cooper of Wales, 
Mass., August 29, 18i2. 

Isaac Stockwell married Melinda Turner April 1, 1816. 
Their children were: E:lmund and Ehnon, twin sons, born 
February 18, 1817, Anan, born, January 2, 1819 and Cordelia, 
born, February 14, 1821; Edmund lived in South Royalston 
village and was engaged in the manufacture of brush woods, he 
married Laura J. Townsend, July 25, 1845; Ehnon lived at home 
on the farm and was a farmer; Anan married Lydia Ann Hale, 
daughter of Silas Hale and resided for many years on the old 
Hale farm; Cordelia married Emory Bemis, February 12, 1840. 

Simeon Stockwell, Jr. married Ruth Piper July 7, 1815, they 
had two sons, D wight and Joseph; Sally Stockwell married 
George W. Drury of Athol, March 14, 1827, Afnmi Stockwell 
married Susan Day, April 13, 1837, she was a native of Hopkinton 
and was born October 18, 1808, their children were: Charles H., 
born in Athol June 30, 1838, Susan E., born July 18, 1840, 
Lydia A., born April 9, 1843, remained single and lived in 
Winchendon, Harriet A., born July 14, 1847, died March 6, 1853; 
Charles H. Stockwell, married Sarah Eaton, a native of Clinton, 
November 14, 1860, they have five children and reside in Clat- 
shanie, Oregon; Susan E. Stockwell, married Henry Whitcomb 
June 9, 1870, they live in Baldwinville and have three children: 
Florence, born in Gardner March 12, 1S76, Clarence E., born in 
Gardner, February 1, 1880, has two children and reside in Minne- 
apolis, Minn., Crystal E., born in Royalston, February 3, 1886, 
resides in Minneapolis. 

Ammi Stockwell and his wife were killed by a tornado when 
on a visit with their son Charles H. Stockwell at Burlington, 
111., this occurred on the night of the 4th of July, 1876. 

Freeman Stockwell, son of Simeon and Sarah Stockwell, 
was born December 25, 1800. He married Lydia B. Day 
June 4, 1827. They had two sons, Edwin, born May 17, 1828 
and Caleb, born November 1, 1830. 

Edwin Stockwell married Martha E. Flint, of Braintree, Vt. 
December 14, 1853. They had three children: Emma E., 
Eva L., and Ellsworth F., all three born in South Royalston. 
He was brought up on his father's farm, and learned the car- 
l)enter's trade. He also had a shop where he manufactured 



f\ 



J3t 





^ 



DEA. AARON JONES 



4iiP^ 



DEA. JONAS M. TURNER 





CALEB N. vSTOCKWELL 



EDWIN STOCKWELL 



THE STOCKWELL FAMILY 579 

different useful articles. He played in the South Royalston 
Band for quite a long time, and attended the Methodist Church. 

Emma E. Stockwell was born October 11, 1854, married 
Arthur B. Story August 12, 1877 in Winchendon. They reside 
in Gardner, Mass.; Eva L. Stockwell was born May 9, 1859, 
married Elijah P. Foster October 6, 1881 in Fitchburg. 

Ellsworth F. Stockwell was born May 28, 1837, married 
Phoebe A. Thomas September 14, 1872, at South Royalston. 
They had one daughter, Grace May, who died March 24, 1899 
about five years of age. 

Caleb N. Stockwell, youngest son of Freeman and Lydia (Day) 
was born in Royalston November 1, 1830. He married Mary 
Battles May 2, 1855. They had two daughters, Eleanor M., 
who married Alfred W. Neale, and died in February, 1903, and 
Lena, who married Harry Beady. They reside in South Roy- 
alston. Mr. Stockwell was a prosperous farmer. He died 
March 31, 1907. 



THE WHEELER FAMILIES. 

Probably the first of the Wheeler families to settle in Royals- 
ton was Lieut. Nathan Wheeler, who settled east of the Centre. 
He and his wife organized with the Congregational Church in 
1766. The records state that Levi, son of Nathan and Mary 
Wheeler was baptized April 2, 1775, and that David, son of 
Nathan and Mary, was born May 9, 1766. They removed to 
Lincoln, N. H., about 1792. 

PAUL WHEELER FAMILY. 

Paul Wheeler came from Acton, Mass. and settled in South 
Royalston on the farm now owned by Charles H. Brooks. He 
married Eunice, daughter of Josiah Wait, who had also settled 
on an adjoining place. They had one son, Josiah Wheeler. 

Col. Josiah Wheeler, son of Paul and Eunice (Wait) Wheeler, 
was born February 14, 1795 and died January 18, 1857. He 
married Martha Forristall of Fitzwilliam, N. H., December 
28, 1814, she was born August 2, 1795 and died Nov. 24, 1878. 
They had fourteen children, born on the farm now owned l)y 
(Jharles H. Brooks, and all of whom with one or two exceptions 



350 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

lived to manhood and womanhood. Their children were: 
Sarah Lovell, born December 1, 1815, married Otis Bemis 
September 20, 1837, died May 26, 1838; Jesse Forristall, born 
April 17, 1818; Martha Gibson, born Nov. 22, 1819, married 
Lucas W. Partridge November 25, 1840. and married (second) 
John Sabiii Flagg of Springfield; Maria Phillips and Mary Gil- 
bert, twins, born September 10, 1821, Maria married Charles 
Everett of Templeton June 27, 1844, she died November 12, 
1890; Mary married Jonas Turner June 13, 1845; Ezra L., born 
August 12, 1823, married Mary Ann Wilder of Templeton. died 
November 13, 1889; Josiah Wait, born May 29, 1825, died Jan- 
uary 16, 1896, married Nancy Wilder and moved to Illinois 
where they both died; Jemina Albee, born July 8, 1827, mar- 
ried Edward G. Cutter, they had two children, Marth'a M., 
born in South Royalston November 22, 1848, and one who died 
in infancy, she lived in South Royalston the greater part of 
her life, and died January 9, 1907 at the home of her daughter, 
Mrs. M. M. Wheeler; Rvfus Brigham Phillips Wheeler, born 
May 3, 1829, married Emeline Wescott of Warwick, they 
had three children, Encz E., born September 19, 1854, Hattie 
Maria, born June 24, 1856 and H. Herbeit, born April 23, 1858. 

Mr. Wheeler was a mason by trade, and lived in South 
Royalston and Orange. Enez E. Wheeler, taught school in 
South Royalston and Orange about five years and married Albert 
L. Barrett of Oiange, March 16, 1875, they had one son, Clayton 
Austin, born Janu£ry 19, 1880 and died April 12, 1914, Mr. 
Barrett died May 18, 1896; Lydia Jones, born March 25, 1831, 
married Simon Smith of Warwick; Amanda E., born April 21, 
1833, m.arried David W. Day; Jane E., born April 11, 1835, 
married John Slate of Paxton; Lyman S., born April 11, 1837, he 
enlisted in Co. L 25th Mass. Infantry as a private and came home 
a sergeant, after his discharge he went to Indiana, and afterward 
to Nebraska, he now resides in San Diego, Cal., he married 
Eliza Barnard; Sarah B., born April 18, 1840, died March 24, 
1841. 

Jesse Forristall Wheeler, oldest son of Josiah and Martha 
(Forristall) Wheeler, was born in South Royalston, April 19, 
1818, he succeeded his father on the home farm, which he con- 
tinued to carry on after his father's death, and also worked quite 
extensively at his trade of stone mason until he sold the farm 
about 1896, and then made his home with his son, Joseph 



THE WHEELER FAMILIES 551 

Wheeler in South Royalston, he held many town offices, being 
Selectman and Assessor about fifteen years, and his judgment in 
business was much sought after and highly valued. He was a 
member of and earnest worker in the Methodist Church of 
South Royalston as long as it existed. He married Sarah E. 
Stockwell of Athol. April 2, 1849. second, Mary Stockwell. 
Paul Wheeler married, second, Phebe Hill of Athol, October 
3, 1803, thir children were : Daniel, born January 12, 1804, 
Eunice, born August 9, 1809, Leonard, born March 5, 1811, 
Lord Nelson, born October 24, 1813, and Abigail, born October 
20, 1819. 

Leonard Wheeler, son of Paul and Phebe (Hill) Wheeler, 
married Phebe Smith of Winchendon, September 15, 1833. He 
lived in Royalston Centre, and was known as the "Village 
Blacksmith," was prominent in town affairs and was town 
treasurer from 1858 to 1864 inclusive. They had three children: 
George Nelson, born in Shelburne, June 12, 1835, he married 
Sarah Cutler of Jaffrey, N. H. for his first wife, and Mrs. Annie 
Murphy of Uniontown, Pa. for his second, he was a railroad 
engineer and lived in Pittsburg, Pa., he hatl one daughter, Mary 
E. Wheeler, born in Easton, Pa. December 14, 1868, who 
married Charles Carruther, and lives in New Kensington, Pa., 
Mr. Wheeler died in Uniontown, Pa.; Sarah E. Wheeler born 
in Royalston January 12, 1838, married Cyrus P. Reed of 
Royalston and died in Orange, May 20, 1915. Warren L. 
Wheeler, born in Royalston March 25, 1813, hi 5 occupation 
was that of a blacksmith and wheelwright, and he lived 
in Fitchburg for many years, he married Ellen A. Knights 
March 2, 1870 in Lowell, Mass., they had two children, Nellie 
Genevieve, born in Hudson, Mass., May 21, 1876, married 
June 12, 1900 in Fitchburg to George L. Nash of Greenfield, 
Mass., they live in Fitchburg, Bessie May born in Royalston 
December 3, 1878, and died there Septend.)er 16, 1880; Lord 
Nelson Wheeler, youngest son of Paul and Phebe (Hill) Wheeler, 
a sketch of whom appears in the educational chapter, Abigail 
the youngest daughter married Robert Wood, Jr., January 6, 
1840. 

RUSSELL WHEELER FAMILY. 

Russell Wheeler, widely known as Dr. Wheeler from hi.s 



yJ2 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

(extensive practice as a veterinarian, came from llehoboth, 
Mass., and settled in the west part of Royalston on the old 
stage road near what was formerly Moore's Mill. He had 
sixteen children, and lost five by the epidemic that prevailed in 
1795, all he then had. He died in 1825 at the age of sixty years, 
and was succeeded by his son Capt. Russell Wheeler, who sold 
the place to his brother Benjamin. The house was burned in 
1852, when Benjamin removed to South Royalston, which was 
ever after his home. Of the children of Russell and Elizabeth 
Wheeler, Aaron, born March 14, 1799 married Clarissa Coller of 
Orange February 8, 1820; Anna, born March 14, 1803, married 
Calvin Coller of Orange, November 30, 1820; Mason, born 
June 29, 1788. married Sarah Ellis of Richmond, N. H., Janu- 
ary 4, 1820. 

Benjamin Wheeler, son of Russell and Elizabeth Wheeler, 
was born in the west part of Royalston in 1810. He married 
Mary Ann \\ hitney, sister of Colonel George Whitney, Feb- 
ruary 23, 1847. They had three children — Levi Whitney, born 
June 10, 1848. and two who died in infancy. In the early fif- 
ties he moved to South Royalston, which was ever after his 
home. He had charge of the South Royalston station from 
soon after the time that he came to the village until about 
1870, when he retired from active business. He died in 1884. 

Levi Whitney Wheeler, son of Benjamin Wheeler, mar- 
ried Martha M. Cutter. They had five children — Frank B., 
Ernest E., Florence E., Fred B. and Grace E., of whom the 
first three are still living. They have always resided in South 
Royalston. 

Russell Wheeler, Jr., son of Russell and Elizabeth Wheeler, 
was born Oct. 8, 1795, and married Irena Boyce January 23, 
1812, when he was a few months more than sixteen years of age, 
and his bride was a little less than twenty years. They had six 
Children; Patty, born Jul}' 12, 1812, married Zimri Bowen of 
Richmond, N. H., December 10, 183.5; Russell, born September 
15, 1814; Mason born August 23, 1816; Jeremiah Bishop, born 
July 18, 1818; Charlotte Boyce, born July 17, 1820, married 
Je.sse Foristall Jr., April 1, 1841; and Samuel B. who died when 
young. 

Jeremiah Bishop Wheeler, was married at Calais, Vt. to Miss 
Louise Wheeler, March 2, 1845, he died at Phillipston, Mass., 
January 6, 1895 and his wife in Athol March 12, 1910, they had 



THE WHEELER FAMILIES 353 

five children, James Elliot, Juliette, Elmer Jeremiah, Addie 
Jane and Charles M. 

Elmer Jeremiah Wheeler, son of Jeremiah Bishop Wheeler, was 
born in Royalston, July 1, 1850. He was married in South 
Royalston July 2, 1876 to Lettie A. Royce of South Royalston. 
They have four children; Lester Elmon, born in Templeton 
August 28, 1879; Cora Lettie, born in Templeton December 22, 
1881 ; Ralph Anson, born in Templeton June 6, 1883 and Everett 
Roswell, born in Winchendon, August 27, 1888. Mr. Wheeler's 
business is general repairer at the M. E. Converse toy shop, 
Winchendon. 

James Elliot Wheeler died January 20, 1885; Juliette married 
Fred Kendall and is now living in Phillipston; Addie Jane 
married Lorenzo Gates and now lives in Athol; Charles M. died 
January 21, 1892. 

Robert A. Wheeler, son of Russell, Jr. and Irene (Boyce) 
Wheeler, was born in Royalston July 18, 1823, married Caro- 
line Goldsmith. Their children were: Julius R., Henry R., 
George, Ellen, Emma and Addie. He married, second, Grace 
Gibbs, Julius R. Wheiler was born in Walpole, N. H., mar- 
ried Emma Hinds of South Royalston, Feb, 16, 1873; he is a 
mechanic and their home is in Baldwinville; their children are 
Henry R. and Arthur J.; Henry R. is a music teacher and re- 
sides in Baldwinville, he married Lora A. Williams April 14, 
1914; Arthur J. married Gertrude Whitney and they reside in 
Keene, N. H. Henry R, Wheeler, son of Russell, Jr., and 
Irene Wheeler, married Mabel Longley and lives in Worcester. 
George died when a 3'oung man. Ellen married John Peckham 
of Phillipston and her home is in Worcester. Emma married 
Richard Damond of Templeton. Addie married Marshall. 

Benjamin S. Wheeler, son of Russell, Jr., and Irene (Boyce) 
Wheeler, married Julia Doggett. Their children were Samuel, 
Clarence E., Harry and Frank. Samuel married Emma 
Chase and resides in Waterville. Clarence E. married Amelia 
Day of South Royalston, daughter of David and Amanda 
(Wheeler) Day; he died Feb. 13, 1910. Harry went West and 
married. Frank married Ora Bliss and resides in Swanzey, 
N. H. 

Amanda Wheeler, daughter of Josiah Wheeler, married 
David Day of South Royalston. Their chilbren were Amelia, 
Elith, Etta and Gaor^e L. Amelia married Clarenca E. 



b54- HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Wheeler. Edith married William E. Clement; they reside in 
Boston. Etta married Timothy Stebbins of Springfield. Geo, 
L. married Miss Pratt of Athol. 



THE CLARK FAMILY. 

Benjamin Clark came to Royalston from Bridgewater, 
Mass. and settled near South Royalston about 1765, bringing his 
wife with him in an ox-cart. He was a drummer in the Rev- 
olutionary War, and is believed to have been at the battle of 
Bunker Hill. He had five boys and one daughter. All of the 
boys, Edson, Eben, Josiah, Samuel and Timothy, settled in 
Royalston and reared families, with the exception of Josiah, 
who settled in Wendell, Mass., the daughter married and went 
West. 

Samuel Clark, son of Benjamin Clark married Luseba Ward, 
daughter of Jabez Ward of Athol, May 2, 1821, they lived and 
died on the farm now owned by Warren Thompson in the west 
part of Royalston. Mr. Clark died in December 1858 and his 
wife in the spring of 1884. Their children were Luseba born 
February 8, 1822, died July 23, 1822; Samuel W., born Septem- 
ber 1, 1823; Esther H., born January 10, 1827; Warren R., born 
September 24, 1828, died November 12, 1839; Lyman B., born 
March 5, 1831, died June 5, 1872; Susan G., born June 11, 1833 
and Lyman J. born September 7, 1835. 

Samuel W. Clark, born September 1, 1823. Removed to 
South Ryegate, Vt., and had four daughters: Esther H. Clark, 
married James J. Smart, March 3, 1852. They had eight chil- 
dren, there being three pairs of twins: Lucretia C. and Luceba 
M., born March 14, 1857; James Harry and P'annie D., born 
July 30, 1861; Charles and Agnes S., born May 18, 1869; Wil- 
liam, born 1855; and Albert, born July 21, 1859. Mrs. Esther 
(Clark) Smart lived in Athol for many years, where she died 
Jan. 23, 1908, Susan G. Clark married Calvin Chapin of Roy- 
alston and they lived on the old homestead of her father. They 
had five children: Walter S,, who is a real estate agent and 
resides in Gardner; Adelle married Charles F, Chase of Royal- 
ston; Esther Finette married Wm. W. Tandy and their home is 
in Gardner; Myrtie married Willian: Lovewell of Royalston; 
Alice is unmarried and lives in Winchendon. human J. Clark, 
youngest child of Samuel and Luseba (Ward) Clark, marri'^d 



THE CLARK FAMILY JSJ 

Susie Ward of Brookline, Mass., June 27, 1866; they had 
four children, two of whom died in infancy, and Mabel and 
Frank, who live at home. When a young man he became clerk 
in the large carpet store of Goldth wait of Boston, where he was 
one of the leading salesmen for many years. He is now retired 
from business and liv^es in Brookline, Mass. 

Eben Clark married Sally Chase, May 27, 1813. They had 
nine children all born in Royalston as follows : Sally, born 
August 28, 1813; Eben, August 12, 1815, died June 3, 1817; 
Mehitable Edson, April 17, 1819, married Daniel W. Upham 
August 9, 1840; Mary Ann, May 26, 1821, married Luke Temple 
of Templeton October 28, 1847; Nancy Chase, May 14, 1823 
married Joshua N. Upham of Templeton, December 17, 1846; 
Eben Franklin, August 22, 1825; Elmira, June 16, 1828, died 
August 21, 1847; Moses Lovell, August 17, 1830, married Anna 
M. Temple of Gilsum N. H. and lived in Fitchburg Mass. 
where he was a house painter and was prominently identified with 
the temperance cause. He died at the summer home of his 
nephew A. C. Brown in Lunenburg; Lyman Austin, born Sep- 
tember 12, 1833. 

Ambrose Clark, son of Edson and Lepha (Fuller) Clark was 
born in South Royalston January 15, 1806 and died in May, 1882. 
He married Miss Joanna Sherwin of Winchendon, December 12, 
1827. Their children were: Melancthon W. S., born in 1828; 
Ambrose Handel, born July 2, 1831; Joe Ann, born in 1836; 
Edson, born in 1834; Harriet W. born in 1878 and Allison born in 
1841. 

L?/wan C/arA', son of Edson and Lepha (Fuller) Clark, was 
born in Royalston, June 15, 1813. He married Olive Chandler 
of Auburn, and they had three children: Ezra Tower, Cortland 
A., and Lyman L. Ezra Tower Clark married Eliza Sargent; 
they had three children, Nettie S., Lizzie and George; Nettie S. 

married Eugene G. Twitchell; Lizzie married Hall. 

Mr. Clark died April 19, 1915. 

Cortland A. Clark married Anna Hathaway of Grafton. 
They had five children. He died in Gardner. 

Lyman L. Clark was born in South Royalston June 21, 1844. 
In early life he worked in the chair shop, and was for thirty 
years a merchant in South Royalston, having as a partner a 
portion of the time, Henry A. Safford, the firm name being 



556 HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

Clark & Safford. He was postmaster from 1885 to 1901. He 
sold his store to E. J. Richmond about 1904, since which time 
he has not been engaged in business. He was, with his father 
and brother, a member of the old South Royalston band, and is 
the only survivor. He married Ellen Sargent. 

Ambrose Handel Clark, second son of Ambrose and Joanna 
(Sherwin) Clark, spent his boyhood days upon the farm and in 
a chairshop. He was one of the California Pioneers of 1849 that 
vvent from South Royalston. When a young man he engaged in 
selling made clothing and was a conductor on the union railroad 
of Cambridge, Mass. During the Civil War he enlisted for 
nine months in Co. A. 47th Regiment Mass. Volunteers. He 
married Miss Mary Holman Coye in Cambridge in 1857, and 
they had five children born to them, all living in Cambridge, 
Mass. For the last forty-eight years of his life he was collector 
for the Cambridge Gas Light Co. He was a member of the 
Grand Army and the Pioneers of California. 

Melancihon W . S. Clark, oldest son of Ambrose and Joanna 
(Sherwin) Clark, lived in Lynn and was conductor on the Nar- 
row Guage Railroad from Boston to Lynn, and his son Edson is 
now a conductor on the same road; he also had two daughters. 

TIMOTHY CLARK FAMILY 

Timothy Clark, son of Benjamin and Susannah (Dolbear) 
Clark was born in South Royalston June 24, 1808 on the place 
now owned by Louis Jolly, which was settled by his grandfather 
Benjamin Clark, and where his father lived and died, and which 
was the home of Timothy the greater part of his life. He was a 
prominent farmer and actively interested in the affairs of the 
town and village. He married Mary A. Sprague of Phillipston 
March 20, 1843, Their children were: Henry Watts, who was 
accidentally killed by falling from a bridge near the residence of 
J. Giggie in the spring of 1858 when fourteen years of age; Ellen 
L., who married James C. Longley; Delia M. who married C. R. 
Taylor and now resides in East Templeton; Mary T. who married 
Prof. A. C. Russell, and died at Kent's Hill, Me.; Emma C. who 
married R. J. Spitz and resides in Whitestone, N. Y.; William 
B. Clark was born in Royalston Dec. 15, 1849. He attended 
school in Royalston and South Royalston. He married Abbie 
J. Murdock February 8, 1871. They have three children 



THE CLARK FAMILIES 557 

living, Walter W., bom December 10, 1875; Mabel M., born Jan- 
uary 21, 1881; and Gladys A., born September 7, 1888. He is 
engaged in the grocery, men's furnishings and wholesale prod- 
uce business, also real estate in Natick, South Framingham, 
Westboro and Worcester. His home is in Worcester. 

George F. Clark, son of Timothy and Mary (Sprague) Clark, 
was born in South Royalston. He resides in Worcester. 



CHARLES HOWE BROOKS 

Charles Howe Brooks was horn in Temp\eton Oct. 12, 1870, 
son of John and Ann Richardson (Howe) Brooks, through 
whom he is a lineal descendant of the famous John Alden of 
the Plymouth Colony. His education was received in the Tem- 
pleton schools. He worked on his father's farm till he was 
twenty-one years of age, and then entered the meat business 
with his brother, John Brooks, Jr., which they continued to- 
gether about three years, after which he was collector for Lord, 
Stone & Co. of Otter River. He married Mary Angie Baldwin 
of South Royalston, daughter of Eden and Elvira M. (Town- 
send) Baldwin, June 12, 1895. They haveone daughter, Daisy, 
born Nov, 14, 1903. In 1895 he bought the farm long known 
as the Jesse Wheeler farm in South Royalston, which has since 
been his home. In addition to carrying on his farming oper- 
ations he deals in cattle and real estate. He is prominent in 
town affairs, having served as Sexton, Meat Inspector, on the 
Board of Health, was the superintendent of the first piece of 
improved highway built in town, one of the assessors, member 
of the finance committee, trustee of the John N. Bartlett Fund, 
and was on the Board of Selectmen from 1912 to 1915. He ani 
Mrs. Brooks are both members of the Templeton Grange. 



SYLVENDER B. FORRISTALL 

Sylvender B. Forn'stall, for more than forty years a prominent 
citizen of South Royalston, was born in Fitzwilliam, N. H., a 
son of Jesse F'orristalL He came to South Royalston and pur- 
chased the Silas Hale farm, one of the best farms in town, where 
he lived for many years. He has been prominently identified 
with town affairs, having served on the Board of Selectmen for 



55<y HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

nine years at different times between 1892 and 1911. He has 
also been quite largely engaged in the lumber business. He 
married Abbie E. Flint, daughter of Wm. R. and Hannah R. 
Flint of Swanzey, N. H. She died May 24, 1913. Their chil- 
dren were: Cora, Ethel, Grace and William; William married 
Lena Harrington, daughter of Allan Harrington, and their 
home is in Gardner. 



ERNEST F. PORTER 

Ernest F. Porter was born in Amherst, Mass., Jan. 1, 1880, 
and went to Athol at an early age, where he received his edu- 
cation in the public schools, graduating from the Athol High 
School in 1897. He had been studying telegraphy in the rail- 
road of^ce at Athol, and, on leaving school, went to work for 
the Fitchburg Railroad Co. as a telegraph operator, his first 
assignment being as night operator, for a few weeks, at the 
Royalston station. He succeeded L. H. Perley as station 
agent, when Mr. Perley was transferred to the Athol station, 
July 1, 1901, and has held that position ever since. He was 
married in 1904 to Miss Gertrude Harper of Chatham, New 
Brunswick, and they have one daughter, Marion, born in 1906. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

SOUTH ROY ALSTON PHYSICIANS 
AND FIRE DEPARTMENT 



SOUTH ROYALSTON PHYSICIANS 

South Royalston had no resident physician until about the 
time, or soon after, the Vermont and Massachusetts raih'oad was 
being built through the village, when Dr. Horace B. Austin came 
to the village and commenced the practice of medicine. He 
married Sally W. Lewis, daughter of Timothy and Sally (Whit- 
more) Lewis March 5, 1845. He remained in South Royalston 
several years and then removed to Athol where he was in practice 
several years previous to 1856. He died from the results of 
an accident on the Phillipston road, and was succeeded in Athol 
by Dr. J. P. Lynde. 

His successor in South Royalston was a Dr. Coury, who re- 
mained some two years. 

Dr. J. B. Gould, the physician of South Royalston from about 
1850 to 1860, was a native of Hillsboro, N. H, He was a student 
of medicine in the medical department of Harvard University 
and in the Medical College of Woodstock, Vt. of which he 
was a graduate in 1850. He came to South Royalston soon 
after his graduation. He married the youngest daughter 
of Silas Hale, and built the house on the hill where Rev. Mr. 
Bates lived. He was a member of the Royalston School 
Committee seven years between 1852 and 1869. He practised 
medicine in Templeton from 1862 to 1874 and then removed to 
West Somerville, Mass. where he practiced for a number of 
years. 

The physician best known to the people of South 
Royalston, and who practiced in this village longer than any 
other one, was Dr. Henry 0. Adams. He was born in Brook- 
field January 14, 1835, and was a brother of Dr. Frank W. Adams 
of the Centre. He studied at the Philadelphia Electic College 
and Dartmouth Medical College graduating from the latter in 
1858. He came to South Royalston about 1853. He served in 



5(5(? HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

the army in the Civil War as a private in the 51st Mass. Regi- 
ment, and as Ward Superintendent in one of the hospitals. He 
married Miss Mary Carpenter of Worcester in 1860, and they 
had one son, Walter Adams, now a physician in Northampton, 
Mass. He was a good physician, and public spirited and up- 
right citizen, and was for several years one of the School Com- 
mittee. He died June 16, 1902. Later Dr. Charles A. Bates, a 
graduate of the University of Vermont practised at South Royals- 
ton about ten years, and then removed to Ashburnham, Mass. 
He was followed by a Doctor McConley, who remained about 
two years. 

Dr. Walter H. Adams, son of Dr. Henry O. Adams of South 
Royalston, was born in South Royalston September 8, 1864. 
He attended the public schools in Royalston and later Cushing 
Academy, Ashburnham, graduating in 1884. He graduated 
from the Medical Department of the University of the City of 
New York in 1889. He has practised medicine in Stoughton, 
Mass., East Bridgewater and Northampton, having been in the 
last named place since 1903. In 1899 he married Agnes M., 
daughter of Hon. Aaron Hobart of East Bridgewater. They 
have two sons, Hobart born in 1902 and John McKean, born in 
1904. Mrs. Adams died in 1915. 



THE FIRE DEPARTMENT 

The Rescue Engine was bought January 17, 1885 at a cost 
of $250 and came from Pawtucket, R. I. The organization of 
the Company at that time was : Foreman — J. A. Rich ; As- 
sistant Foreman — Joseph Richards; 2nd Assistant, — James 
H. Mellen; Stewards — Almon A. Hyatt, H. H. Haywood, 
Jerry E. Rich; Clerk and Treasurer — Robert A. Sherwin. The 
Company at that time was composed of forty men. This engine 
was sold to Lynn, April 2. 1893. 

PIONEER ENGINE CO. NO. 2 

This is a Hunneman Engine and was built in 1845. It was 
bought in Lawrence, Mass. April 13, 1896 for Royalston at a 
cost of $150. The officers of this company which consists of 
twenty men are: Foreman — A. C. Kendall; 1st Assistant, J. 




PIONEER ENGINE COMPANY, SOUTH ROYALSTON, 1914 




RESCUE ENGINE COMPANY, SOUTH ROYALSTON, APRIL 21, 1887 



THE FIRE DEPARTMENT 561 

Wheeler; 2d Assistant, E. Twitchell; Stewards — J. HoUeran, G. 
Duley, J. Plant; Treasurer and Clerk^F. A. Brown. 

FIRE OF 1892 

Probably the most destructive fire in Royalston as regards 
the value of property destroyed was the fire of August 19, 1892, 
when the Col. Whitney Woolen Mill at South Royalston was 
totally destroyed. The fire was discovered about 7.30 o'clock 
on Saturday evening August 19, in the tower of the mill, and is 
supposed to have originated in the spinning room. It was soon 
seen that the local firemen could not manage the fire, and aid 
was summoned from Athol and Baldwinville, and a steam fire 
engine was sent from each place, the one from Athol making the 
run by train in eight minutes, and from Baldwinville by road 
drawn l)y horses in forty-three minutes. 

An employee in the mill and one of the Athol firemen were 
overcome by the heat. The Athol firemen did not get home 
until 5.30 o'clock Sunday morning. The mill was well equipped 
with machinery which was totally destoyed. The total loss 
was $175,000 with an insurance of $140,000 divided between 
forty-five companies. 

FIRE OF 1904 

The "Great Fire of 1904" will long be remembered by the 
people of South Royalston, as they saw their church, school- 
house, bridge, and other buildings destroyed by the devouring 
flames. The fire which occurred on Tuesday October 25, 1904 
started about 10.30 A. M., in the old chair shop used as a picker 
house by the Whitney Woolen Co., and is supposed to have 
been caused by spontaneous combustion, and with a howling 
wind blowing directly towards the east, the flames were soon 
beyond the control of the South Royalston fire department. 
The fire soon spread to the covered bridge spanning Millers 
river, and located near the shop, and the bridge was soon de- 
stoyed. Burning brands were carried far up the hill to the 
north, and the Congregational Church, Mechanics Hall, and the 
school-house located in the same building, Richmond's grocery 
store and several private dwellings were soon in flames. Word 
was sent to Baldwinville and Athol for help, and both towns 
responded promptly with a steam fire engine and hose. The 



562 HISTORY OF KOYALSTON 

special Athol train made the run from Athol to South Royalston 
in eight minutes, and it was only forty mhiutes from the time the 
message was received in Athol before the reinforcements from 
AthDl were at the scene of the fire in South Roycilston. Other 
houses near by caught fire and it was nearly three o'clock in the 
afternoon before the firemen quit work. 

The loss was about $40,000. It was the most disastrous fire 
that South Royalston had experienced since the burning of 
the Whitney Woolen Mill in 1892. 



The citizens of South Royalston were much agitated dur- 
ing the last half of the year 1884 and the opening month of 
1885 by several fires that occurred within about six months' 
time. 

On Sunday night, June 15, 1884, the Farrar shop, owned 
and occupied by Nelson Farrar, was discovered to be on fire 
about midnight, and, with its contents, was burned to the 
ground. The fire spread to adjoining buildings and the barn 
and paint shop of Nelson Farrar were also destroyed, together 
with two dwelling houses owned by Martin Fallon and Kdwin 
Farrar, while other houses were damaged. The origin of the 
fire was supposed to be accidental. 

The second fire took place on the night of Oct. 19, when the 
building" opposite L. L. Clark & Co.'s store, owned by Fred 
Knights and occupied by him as a livery stable and store room 
and by a meat market and barber shop, was burned about 9 
o'clock on Sunday evening. Clark's store and the Congrega- 
tional church were on fire at one time, and it was feared that 
they, with other buildings, would be destroyed. Help was 
summoned from Athol, but the fire was gotten under control 
and the aid was not needed. 

The third fire occurred on the night of Jan. 12, 1885, when 
the brush wood shop of C. W. Day was discovered to be on 
fire about half past one on Monday morning, and was in a 
short time with all its contents destroyed, together with lum- 
ber sheds. The loss was about seven thousand dollars. The 
burning of this shop took the last business from the village, 
with the exception of the mill and shops of Col. George Whit- 
ney. The last two fires were believed to be of incendiary ori- 
gin. 



CHAPTER XXX 
ROYALSTON'S HALL OF FAME 

In these pages we give a list of some of the native-born of Roy- 
alston, who have attained prominence in the State and Nation. 



Hon. Alexander H. Bullock — Governor of Massachusetts, elo- 
quent orator and wise statesman. Held many important offices in 
State and city, speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representa- 
tives, four years mayor of Worcester, in 1879 was offered the then 
vacant English mission by President Hayes. 

Hon. Asahel Peck — Eminent lawyer, judge of the Supreme 
Court of Vermont and governor of the State. 

Hon. Rufus Bullock — Model citizen, merchant, manufacturer 
and benefactor of his town. 

James Ormond Wilson — Educator, superintendent of the 
schools of Washington, D. C, for 15 years. 

Hon. George Carter Richardson — Leading merchant of Boston, 
and mayor of the city of Cambridge; president of the Boston Board 
of Trade. 

Major-General Lysander Cutler — Prominent in the Civil War; 
commander of the " Iron Brigade." 

Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Cummings — Journalist; proprietor 
of the Vermont Phoenix; clerk of the House of Representatives of 
Vermont for three years; officer in the Civil War. 

Rev. Amory Gale, D. D. — Eminent Baptist clergyman and mis- 
sionary. 

Samuel C. Gale — Lawyer, and prominent business man of Min- 
neapolis, Minn. 

Major Edward A. Brown — County treasurer of Worcester 
County for thirty-six years, a longer period than any other person 
ever served. 

William O. Brown — County commissioner of Worcester County 
for twenty-one years. 

Colonel George Whitney — Woolen manufacturer; State Senator, 
and member of the Governor's Council of Massachusetts. 

Rev. Samuel Barrett, D. D. — Eminent clergyman, for many 
years pastor of the Twelfth Congregational Unitarian Society of 
Boston. 

Joel H. Gates — Prominent furniture manufacturer and business 
man of Burlington, Vt. 



5S4- HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

William Clark Peckham — Physicist and educator; professor of 
physics at Adelphi College; contributor to scientific journals. 

Chester Twitchell Stockwell — Prominent dentist of Springfield, 
Mass. ; author and scientist. 

Rev. John F. Lehy — Educator; president of Holy Cross College. 

Rev. Daniel Shepardson — Baptist minister and educator and 
founder of Shepardson College. 

Major-General Franklin Gregory — Prominent military officer, 
and merchant. 

Harrison Bliss — Prominent merchant and banker of Worcester; 
represented the city of Worcester in the General Court, and was a 
leader in city affairs. 

Franklin Edwards Gregory — Merchant; head of one of Boston's 
leading commission houses; director and manager of various financial 
and other enterprises. 

Rev. John Shepardson — Prominent Baptist minister, and edu- 
cator. 

Dr. Stephen Bacheller, Jr. — Physician of Royalston for forty- 
five years; probably had a more extensive consultation business than 
any other physician in the County and, perhaps, the State; vice-presi- 
dent ofthe Massachusetts Medical Society. 

Nancy Priest — Writer of poetry and author of "Over the River." 

Josephine L. (Perkins) BaUantine — Granddaughter of Royal- 
ston's second pastor, and well known missionary in India for more 
than thirty years. 

Hamilton S. Peck — Lawyer; Mayor of Burlington, Vt., and 
Judge of City Court. 

Caleb BufFum Metcalf — Noted Educator; established the 
famous military academy of Worcester, Mass, over which he pre- 
sided for thirty-two years. 

Eliab Wight Metcalf — Prominent ship builder and owner in 
Bangor, Me.; extensive dealer in timber lands of the West; promi- 
nent in temperance legislation in Maine and Ohio, and leading citi- 
zen of Elyria, Ohio. 

Isaac Stevens Metcalf — Civil engineer; had charge of the con- 
struction of portions of Illinois Central railroad; township trustee 
of Elyria, Ohio all through the Civil War, and colonel of the vol- 
unteer militia. 

Harlow A. Gale — Leading business man of Minneapolis, Minn.; 
one of the founders and manager of the city market of that city, and 
county auditor. 

Elmer W. Bliss — One of the early California adventurers; 
manufacturer of furniture in Brattleboro, Vt., and one of the foun- 
ders of the Burdett Organ Co. of Chicago, 111., and Erie, Pa. 

Benjamin Goddard — Manufacturer of Worcester, Mass., with 
Ichabod Washburn he started what has become the great wire 
business of Worcester. 



rovalston's hall of fame 365 

Rev. Ariel E. P. Perkins, D. D. — Prominent Congregational 
clergyman of Massachusetts; pastor of the Congregational Church 
of Ware for thirty years. 

Dr. James Bacheller — Physician of Marlboro, N H., for thirty- 
seven years; president of the New Hampshire Medical Society; Sen- 
ator in the General Court of New Hampshire and councillor. 

Benjamin Conant Perkins — Lawyer; studied with Rufus Choate; 
State Senator and Register of Bankruptcy for Essex County. 

Rev. Ebenezer Cutler, D. D. — Noted Congregational minister 
of Massachusetts; pastor of Union Congregational Church of Wor- 
cester for twenty-five years; elected president of the University of 
Vermont, but declined the position. 

Charles Augustus Gregory — Prominent lawyer of Chicago, 111.; 
also interested in extensive land business in that city. 

Rev. Albert Bryant — Missionary of the American Board in 
Turkey; also well known pastor of Massachusetts churches. 

Almando Ballou — One of the old " Forty-Niners," who went 
to California; was the first to erect a frame building in Sacremento 
City, Cal., became prominent in mercantile affairs in Boston and 
Philadelphia. 

Stephen Holman — Prominent manufacturer of Holyoke and 
Worcester. 

Rev. T. Willard Lewis — Well-known Methodist minister. Had 
charge of the missions of that church in South Carolina and Florida, 
and was the founder of Claflin University. 

Henry Martyn Harrington — Educator. Superintendent of the 
schools of Bridgeport, Conn., for fifteen years. 

Bertha Winifred Clark — Missionary in Burmah. 

Charles G. G. Paine — Educator. Superintendent of the schools 
of the American Missionary Association for the Freedmen at Hamp- 
ton, Va., and teacher in schools of Chicago, 111. and Detroit, Mich. 

Andrew Bliss Garfield — Well-known builder of mills in the 
Blackstone valley. 

John V. Hazen — Civil Engineer. Professor of Civil Engineer- 
ing at Dartmouth College. 

Edwin Augustus Fisher — Civil Engineer. Superintendent of 
the Pittsburg Division of the Western New York and Pennsylvania 
Railroad for four years. City Engineer of Rochester, N. Y., from 
1896 to the present time. 

Arthur A. Upham — Educator and Author. Professor of Science 
in the Whitewater, Wisconsin State Normal School. Member of the 
State Board of Examiner of Wisconsin. Mayor of Whitewater. 

Everett B, Bragg — Chemist. Explorer in the West Indies. 
Vice President and Western Manager of the General Chemical Co. 
of New York with office in Chicago, 111. 

Dr. Hosea Davis — Prominent Physician of Littleton, 111., for 
thirty-seven years. Representative in the Illinois Legislature and a 
central figure in Schuyler County of that state. 



566 HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

Dr. Horace Jacobs — Prominent Physician of Springfield, Mass., 
for many years. 

Davis Goddard — State Senator and County Commissioner for 
Franklin County. Postmaster of Orange for twenty-four years. 

Moses Walker Dexter — Wholesale Tea Merchant in Philadelphia 
for thirty-two years. 

Joseph Frederick Perkins — Missionary of the Presbyterian 
Board in Brazil, South America. 

George Ellis Whitney — Woolen Manufacturer. Member of the 
New Hampshire House of Representatives and State Senator in that 
state. 

Frederick C. Nichols — Well-known Banker, Treasurer and Chief 
Executive of the Fitchburg Savings Bank. 

Leonard Nichols — United States Shipping Commissioner of the 
Port of Providence, R. I. 

Robert Winthrop Adams — Electrical Engineer. Manager of the 
Providence office of the General Electric Co. 

Fred W. Cross. .Representative to the Legislature from First 
Worcester District three years, and State Senator from the Fourth 
Worcester District. 

Geoffrey B. Lehy — Prominent merchant of Boston. Member of 
the Finance Commission for City of Boston, and first President of the 
Boston City Club. 

Brigham, Newton Bullock — Prominent Banlrer of Fitchburg, 
Mass. 

Joseph Raymond — Well-known merchant in Baldwinsville and 
Royalston. Contributed the first money for founding a public li- 
brary in Royalston. 

Charles Watson Bowker — Leading grain and produce merchant 
of Worcester and owner of large real estate interests in that city. 

William H. Bullard — Manufacturer of Holyoke, and President 
of the Board of Trade of that city. 

George W. Holman — Railroad Contractor in the West. Super- 
intendent of Streets of Fitchburg, Mass. 



APPENDIX 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

AT THE 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

OF THE 

INCORPORATION of THE TOWN OF ROYALSTON 

AUGUST 3, 1915 

BY FRED W. CROSS 

Mr. Toastmaster, Honored Representatives of our state and na- 
tional government, Fellow Citizens and Friends of Royalston: 

I am placed to-day in a very peculiar position. My friend, Mr. 
Nichols, in his introductory remarks has said some very pleasant 
things about me. I only vv^ish that they were all true. For one of 
his remarks I feel that I must get back ,at him in some way, and so 
I am going to tell you how, knowing my rather insurgent proclivities 
in politics, he said to me the other day: "Now, Fred, if you could be 
a little more of a regular." 

I say I am placed in a somewhat peculiar position. Within a 
week after a most excellent outline of Royalston's history has ap- 
psared in the Athol Transcript, and when within two days a most 
eloquent historical sermon has been delivered in yonder church by 
the Rev. Asher Anderson, and an evening discourse on the town's 
church history has been given by the author of our fox'thooming 
town history, and after the President of the day in his opening re- 
marks has alluded to some of the most interesting and amusing fea- 
tures in our territorial history, I am expected to give a historical 
address. But I am going to punish you just the same. 

Royalston invites you here to-day to assist her in celebrating, 
not her age, but her youth. While other municipalities boast of 
their two centuries or two centuries and a half of history, we come 
to tell you that we are only 150 years old, — But the book of those 
years has written upon its pages as honorable a record as one might 
wish to see. 

As the historian delves in the early records of these New Eng- 
land townships he naturally seeks first for some Indian traditions, 
some stories of sudden attack, of brave defense, of captivity and of 
massacre. He looks for some relics of the aboriginal tribes who 
three centuries ago roamed these hills, fished these streams, and set 
their cornfields in our fertile valleys. For Indian traditions the 
historian of Royalston will seek in vain. 

Nearly seventy years before this town was incorporated, King- 
Philip's war had put an end to the power of the Nipmuck tribes of 



ir HISTORY OF ROYALSTOISf 

Central Massachusetts and the Payquage or Pequoig Indians as a 
body had deserted the valley of Miller's River even as the Squakeags 
of Northfield, the Pocumtucks of Deerfield, and the Norov^^ottucks of 
Hadley had left the valley of the Connecticut. True it is that in. 
later years, even as late as 1756-58 marauding parties of red men 
from Canada appeared in northern Massachusetts to kill and plunder 
and destroy, but they usually followed the regular routes southward 
along the Connecticut River, or the Hoosac River and the Mohawk. 
Trail, and seldom or never threaded these forest fastnesses where 
the Poquaigs once roamed and hunted. 

Only once within my recollection has a stone axe head been 
turned up by the ploughman near the banks of Miller's River in the 
South village, a reminder of a race and an age that has long since 
passed away. Indeed, perhaps we may consider ourselves fortunate 
that we have no Indian history, for in almost every New England 
town that does possess it, it is a story of slaughtered settlers, and 
sacked and smoking homes. 

The origin of Royalston as a territorial unit was peculiar and 
somewhat amusing. She came into being as the result of a genuine 
"closing out sale." By the middle of the 18th century most of the 
territory lying east, south, and west of ihis present township had al- 
ready been disposed of by grants of the General Court. As early as 
1733, Narragansett Number Six, now Templeton, had been granted 
to certain persons and the heirs of other persons who had done ser- 
vice in King Philip's War. About the siame time, Payquage, now 
Athol, was granted to sixty proprietors, who held their first meeting 
at Concord, Mass., in June, 1734. In 1735, Ipswich-Canada, now 
Winchendon, had granted to sixty persons, fifty-two of whom came 
from Ipswich in Essex County, hence the early name of the grant. 
The original Indian name of Warwick, our western neighbor, was 
Shaomet. It was an English plantation, prior to 1750 and bore the 
name of Roxbury Canada. Phillipston and Orange had not yet come 
into existence as separate plantations. They were created later out 
of the territory of the towns already named. Now came the bargain 
sale. 

It is an almost threadworn story to the person familiar with 
Royaiston's genesis, how in 1752 the General Court ordered that all 
the remaining lands, not yet granted, lying between Payquage and 
Narragansett Number Six on the south and the boundary of the 
province of New Hampshire on the north should be surveyed and 
sold at public auction. We know this was accordingly done and that 
the Honorable Messrs. Erving, Freeman, Hubbard, Otis, Royall, 
Watts, and others bid off this tract of about 28000 acres for the 
modest sum of £1348, or a little less than twenty-five cents an acre. 

The author of our forthcoming town history will tell you later 
in detail of the Moore, Pierpont, Priest, and Hapgood grants, private 
tracts within the township which had previously been alloted to indi- 
viduals and were not included in the sale of 1752. He will also tell 



APPENDIX III 

yt)u of the Royalston "leg," so-called, a sort of a dipper handle pro- 
jection lying- between the northern boundary of Winchendon and the 
Province line, a tract which had not been included in the grant to 
the Ipswich proprietors and hence formed a part of the purchase of 
Messrs. Royall, Otis, and their associates. Always a troublesome 
appendage, this "leg" was legally amputated in 1780 and annexed 
to Winchendon, to which town it more naturally belonged. 

The early meetings of the proprietors at the Bunch of Grapes 
Tavern, Boston, the laying out of the first sixty-three lots in 1753, 
the naming of the grant Royalshire in honor of Col. Isaac Royall of 
Medford, a leading proprietor, the clearing of land and sowing of 
rye fields by prospective settlers from Sutton, — all these are matters 
too well known to require more than a passing reference. 

But the exciting scenes of the last French War interrupted all this 
work, and it was not until the early summer of 1762, three years 
after the capture of Quebec and the close of hostilities on this con- 
tinent, tKat a bare half dozen pioneers, probably from Sutton, es- 
tablished permanent homes within our borders. Two years and a 
half later, in February, 1765, the town was incorporated under the 
name of Royalston. Such in brief is the story of our birth. 

The dozen years that followed 1762 was a period of rapid settle- 
ment and growth. Then came the seven years' War for Independ- 
ence. The approach of this conflict was viewed with great interest 
by the inhabitants of this township. To the first Provincial Cong- 
ress held at Concord in 1774 they sent as a delegate Henry Bond, 
a respected and intelligent farmer, who resided about twenty-five 
rods east of the present road to South Royalston near the ruins of 
the Eddy place. To the second Provincial Congress, which assembled 
in the early spring of 1775, the town sent Nahum Green, whose home 
was in the valley west of the farm of the late John W. Stockwell. 
As the Rev. Joseph Lee, who had been ordained as minister of the 
First Church, 1768, was himself a native of Concord, Mass., a centre 
in the opening scenes of the Revolution, it may be conceived that he 
imparted much of his interest and patriotic fervor to the people over 
whom he had spiritual charge. 

At the time the conflict opened there were already two organ- 
ized military companies in town, Captain Peter Woodbury's "Royal- 
ston Company," the Ninth Company in Col. Sparhawk's Seventh 
Worcester County Regiment, and Captain Jonas Allen's Company of 
minutemen. The roll of Captain Allen's company has been found in 
the State Archives and a copy is in my possession. That of 
Captain Woodbury's Company is unfortunately missing. Captain 
Allen's minutemen, twenty-four in number, responded to the Lexing- 
ton Alarm in April, 1775, and each is credited with from seven to 
forty days of service. Thirteen members of that company re-enlist- 
ed in Captain Abel Wilder's Company of Colonel Ephraim Doolittle's 
reghnent and served with that command during the siege of Boston. 

A portion of Captain Woodbury's Company commanded by 



IV HISTORY OF ROYAI.STON 

Lieutenant Jonathan Sibley and known as Lieutenant Sibley's de- 
tachment, responded to the Bennington Alarm in August, 1777, Cap- 
tain Woodbury himself being- at that time in command of the Petsr- 
sham Company, which also responded to the same alarm. 

It is impossible within the limits of a brief address to dwell at 
length on our Revolutionary history. The infant township fur- 
nished for that conflict nearly one hundred men. In searching the 
archives of the town and of the Commonwealth I have recently col- 
lected the names and records ofninety-four men, who unquestionably 
served on Royalston's quota during some part of the Revolution 
and twenty-five more Revolutionary soldiers who were post bellum 
residents of the town. A few served only for brief periods as on the 
Lexington and Bennington alarms; many had several sucessive en- 
listments to their credit; by far the larger number had long and 
honorable terms of service. One would like to speak at length 
of some of these early heroes, and especially of such men as 
Bezaleal Barton, who resided on the Col. Willavd Newtcn place, 
Silas Cutting, who lived on the old Hadley farm near Stone's Mills; 
Jno. Hutchinson, whose home was on the present F. H. Goddard 
place, and Isaac Nichols, Jr., who lived on- what is now the Charles 
Chase farm, all of whom had honorable records and died in the 
service of the young republic. 

Following the Revolution, came thirty years of peaceful develop- 
ment. Farms multiplied and increased in acreage of tilled land. 
The population steadily grew. Sawmills, grist mills, and tanneries 
increased in number. Several hatters and shoemakers and one or 
more clothiers established here. Sheep raising was an important in- 
dustry. The great bulk of all the commodities consumed were home 
produced. 

Stimulated by the Embargo Act of 1807 and the interference 
with our commerce incident upon the War of 1812 and aided by the 
abundance of water power furnished by Miller's River, manufactur- 
ing soon arose on a larger scale. In 1813, a cotton and woolen 
manufacturing company was organized and a mill erected at South 
Royalston. Thus, just over one hundred years ago was the textile 
industry on a commercial scale established in this town. 

Meanwhile exciting events were transpiring near our borders. 
In 1814, a British army was gathering to invade northern New Eng- 
land, supported by a formidable fleet on Lake Champlain. In the 
same year, Essex, Connecticut, several miles up the Connecticut 
River, was burned and plundered by a British armament and the 
enemy was still believed to be hovering off our New England coast. 
In this crisis Royalston was able to furnish a full company of gren- 
adiers armed and equipped for the public service. In August, 1814, 
this company was summoned to Boston to be employed if necessary 
to defend our coast. After listening to an eloquent and appropriate 
sermon by the aged and reverend Joseph Lee, they started, some with 
solemn, some with jubilant hearts, on their eighty-mile tramp to the 



APPKNDIX V 

capital city of the Commonwealth. Five v/eeks of camp and g-arrison 
duty followed, at the close of which they were all honorably dis- 
charged and sent home, seme it is said to regret to their dying- day 
that no hero blood had been shed but that all came back alive. 

This company of fxrenadiers, organized about 1810, was kept 
up with periodical trainings and musters until about 1850, and its 
rolls bear the names of many of our most virile and public-spirited 
citizens. On its lists were borne the names of four men, Benj. 
Bsrov/n, Wil3?.rd Newton, Elmer Newton, and Josiah Wheeler, each of 
whom in turn became Colonel of the Fifth Regiment, 2nd Brig., 7th 
Div. of the Massachusetts militia, a tribute surely to the military 
standing of the sons of Royalston. 

But to return once more to the activities of pejace. The Cotton 
and Woolen Manufacturing Company organized in 1813 continued 
to do business for several years with varying success. Finally, 
about 1830, the entire plant passed into the hands of Rufus Bullock, 
who was really the father of South Royalston's woolen industry. 
The original mill was burned in 1833, and its successor — the stone 
mill — was destroyed by fire in 1892, after the business had been 
conducted for many years by Col. George Whitney, aided by his son, 
who graces this platform with his presence to-day. 

Meanwhile, several smaller forms of manufacturing sprang up 
in town until as early at 1837, besides the woolen mill, Royalston 
possessed three manufactories of chairs, furniture, and cabinet ware 
and eleven saw-mills, and the population had increased to 1629. 
Three years later it reached the maximum of 1657. 

Until the middle forties, the inhabitants belonged almost ex- 
clusively to the old English Puritan siock. Immigrant laborers v/ere 
first employed in the construction of the Vermont and Massachusetts 
Railroad, which was opened for traffic in 1847. Most of these early- 
immigrants camo from Ireland, driven from that fair country by 
famine and hard economic conditions and allured to New England 
by the prospect of plenty of work and ful Ipolitical liberty. After 
the railroad was completed, many of these new-comers settled in our 
midst, obtained employment in the woolen mill, bought farms, raised 
up large families of children, and were readily assimilated as a part 
of our population. Their descendants are still among us, most 
valued and respected citizens. 

The years from 1850 to 1860 witnessed marked industrial 
progress, and then came the thunder burst of the Civil war. Your 
historian to-day might spend the entire time alloted to him in review- 
ing Royalston's part in that conflict. With a population in 1860 
numbering only 1468, the town is credited with a total of 147 enlist- 
ments, or ten per cent, of its entire population. Most of her soldiers 
were members of hard-fighting regiments. Eleven served in the 
Second Regiment, eleven in the 21st Regiment, thirty in the 25th, 
twenty-five in the 36th, twenty-seven in the 53d, and the remainder 
in various commands. Of the 138 separate individual soldiers serv- 



VI HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 

ing- on Royalston's quota thirty-five, or fully twenty-five per cent., 
died for their country. Norcross, Upham, Knight, Vose, Bosworth, 
Chase, Frye, White, — our hearts call the roll of their names as their 
faces pass before us in the mists of memory. They sprang not from 
the circles of stilted aristocracy. Not one of them was rich. They 
were the sons of the town's yeomanry. They came from the farms 
on these hill tops and from the workshops in these valleys. They 
were men of the rank and file. Some came up from lowly homes, 
performed their alloted service, made the supremest sacrifice that 
man can make, and laid them down in unknown graves. But by 
their act they wrote for this town a record that its sons can never 
forget. 

In the past fifty years various changes in fortune have come to 
us as a town. Among the regrettable experiences, almost every one 
of our manufacturing establishments have been destroyed by fire, 
though out of the ashes of one of them has arisen the present well- 
equipped factory of the American Woolen Company at South Royal- 
ston, the beautiful and useful samples of whose product are on ex- 
hibition in our town hall to-day. Again, many of the original 
families have become extinct. One searches in vain in our list of 
present day inhabitants for the Woodburys, the Bullocks, the Greg- 
orys and the Whitneys; the Cutlers, the Joneses, the Hales, and the 
Batchellors, — all of which names are well remembered by our older 
citizens. 

In the galaxy of distinguished men whom this town has produced 
several names stand out in my mind pre-eminently. Of four I shall 
briefly speak in closing, — two statesmen and two soldiers. 
Each removed from Royalston in youth or young manhood, but each 
from his first entrance upon public life until the day of his death re- 
flected honor and credit upon the town of his nativity. 

Of Hon. Ashael Peck, a most eminent lawyer, for many years 
a member of the Supreme Court of Vermont, and at one time gov- 
ernor of the state, I cannot speak at length, as I have no data to 
guide me. 

One native of this town, the most distinguished in civil life, was 
born but a stone's throw from this spot. Indeed this very field was 
a part of his paternal homestead. His grandsire came to Royalston 
during the Revolution, and his father, the leading manufacturer in 
this section of the state, at one time or another held almost every 
office of honor and trust in the gift of this town or this representa- 
tive and senatorial district. The distinguished son graduated with 
honors from Amherst College in the class of 1836. For several 
years preceding and during the Civil war he was a member of the 
Massachusetts House of Representatives, and throughout the trying 
years of 1862, '63, '64, and '65, he was the presiding officer of that 
body. From the speakership of the House he passed to the govern- 
orship of the State, in which capacity he sei-ved from 1866 to 1869, 
A man of dignified personality and loftiness of character, he was 



APPENDIX VII 

well fitted to serve this Commonwealth in the highest and most re- 
sponsible positions in which she could place him. A sterling patriot 
in the nation's most trying times, a princely orator, always loyal to 
the best ideals and traditions of the old New England life, he graced 
this platform with his presence, and charmed and instructed an au- 
dience like this with his eloquence on a similar occasion fifty years 
ago. As long as the history of this town, or this county, and of 
this state endure, so long will the name of Alexander H. Bullock be 
revered and remembered. 

The old Hadley farmhouse, now deserted and tenantless, was 
the home not only of Silas Cutting, a Revolutionary martyr, but of 
one son of Royalston, who in later years, after occupying many posi- 
tions of dignity and usefulness in civil life, as the crowning act of 
his manhood's service died on the field on honor. Charles Cummings, 
son of Joshua and Hephzibah Cummings, was bom here February 
26th, 1821. In boyhood he attended the schools of his native town. 
Later he studied medicine, receiving his degree as M. D. in 1847. 
Three years a physician in Fitzwilliam, N. H., twelve years the editor 
of a leading newspaper in Brattleboro, Vt., four years, from 1858 
to 1861 inclusive, holding the high and responsible position of Clerk 
of the House of Representatives of the State of Vermont, before his 
military career began, Charles Cummings had devoted some of the 
best years of his life to the public service. 

In 1862 he enlisted as a private in the 11th Vt. infantry. Be- 
fore leaving his adopted state, he was commissioned successively 
First Lieutenant in the Eleventh Vermont regiment. Major of the 
Twelfth, and Lieutenant Colonel of the Sixteenth. With the last 
named regiment he served through the summer campaign of 1863, 
his command bearing an important part in the repulse of Pickett's 
charge at Gettysburg. Made commander of the Seventeenth Ver- 
mont Regiment in the early part of 1864, in May of that year he was 
wounded in the head at the battle of the Wilderness, but refused to 
leave the field. Compelled by failing health to take a leave of ab- 
sence in August, 1864, early in the following month he hastened 
back to his regiment, only to fall wounded in its very next engage- 
ment, at Poplar Grove Church, Sept. 30th. He died in Confederate 
hands, but as one of the amenities of war his body was restored to 
his regiment and returned to Brattleboro for burial. I cannot more 
fittingly close a sketch of this hero son of ours than by repeating the 
last command which he ever gave upon the field of battle: "Boys! 
save the colors!" 

And there is one other son of Royalston whose story will not be 
told unless I tell it, nor unless I sing it, will his soldier song be sung. 

First, friend, I shall ask you to forget this present hour and this 
festive occasion and transport yourself with me to a little mound or 
hillock on the south side of a rough, stony road, three miles west of 
Centreville, Virginia. The road which stretches from east to west 
at our feet is the Warrenton pike, the main thoroughfare between 



VIII HISTORY OF KOYAI.ST(^N 

Warrenton and Alexandria. At this point it is a somewhat sunken 
road, and beyond it to the northward rise ths rolling fields and 
wooded hills of the Douglas farm. It is near the close of a sultry Au- 
gust day. From our elevated position we can see as we glance north- 
ward what the pedestrian as he toils along the pike cannot see, — the 
camps of Taliaferro's and Ewell's divisions of Stonewall Jackson's 
corps. The gray clad soldiers lie sweltering in the heat, and corps 
and division commanders themselves are seeking on hour's rest in 
the corner of a worm fence under the ti'ees. 

But look! Of a sudden there is confusion in the camp. Ex- 
cited couriers are seen darting hither and thither. Black throated 
guns are deep shotted and wheeled into line. Five brigades of in- 
fantry, among them the famous "Stonewall" brigade itself, take 
position in front of the guns. The men lie prone upon the earth. 
The muzzles of ten thousand death dealing tubes are turned toward 
the pike. They are watching and waiting. We, too, watch and 
wait. After what seems an age, we hear far away to the westward 
the sound of martial music. Clearer and clearer come the inspiring 
strains until finally our eyes detect in the distance the flutter of 
bar.ners, the glint of guns and the forms of marching men. Soon 
they are passing the very hillock on which we stand. It is King's 
Division of Pope's Army of Virginia, Hatch's brigade of four regi- 
ments in advance, then a wide interval, then Gibbon with the Nine- 
teenth Indiana and the Second, Sixth and Seventh Wisconsin, regi- 
ments that shall make for themselves a name this day that shall 
never be forgotten while American History endures. At ths head of 
the Sixth Wisconsin rides a gray-bearded colonel, who in his boy- 
hood days was no stranger to these Royalston hills. 

The last regiment of Hatch's Brigade has disappeared in the dis- 
tance to the eastward, and Gibbon's men are this instant passing un- 
der our eyes, when there is a sudden movement among the Confed- 
erate batteries. The gunners spring to their feet. Swords gleam 
in the mellow rays of the setting sun. A dozen, — two dozen puffs 
of smoke fleck down the line of Wooding's and Poague's and 
Carpenters' guns. Boom! — Boom! Boom! — Crash Crash! — and 
the peaceful pike with its lines of jolly marchers is filled with the 
hell of exploding shells. For nearly every regiment on which that 
tornado fell it was its first baptism of fire. And yet what miracle 
is this! They do not flee. Above the din of conflict we hear the 
short, sharp orders of the gray-bearded commander of the Sixth. 
"Left front into line! Load! Load at will! Load! !" And not 
until every musket is loaded and rammed and capped does he follow 
with the order, "Lie down!" The Second and Seventh and Nineteenth 
regiments take inspiration from the gallant leader of the Sixth, 
though they themselves are bravely led. 

For four mortal hours the blazing rifles of those raw Union 
levies ring back the challenge coming from the veterans of Taliafer- 
ro's and Baylor's and Starke's and Lawton's and Trimble's Confed- 



APPENDIX IX 

erate Brigades. Across the fields of the Douglas farm the muskets 
hlaze at each other in the gathering darkness until both Confederate 
division commanders are shot from their steeds, in the "Stonewall" 
brigade alone three colonels are killed or disabled, while in Gibbons' 
command the brave colonel of the Second Wisconsin is killed, the 
three ranking officers of the Seventh are all desperately wounded, 
while the gray-bearded colonel of the Sixth with white and com- 
pressed lips still holds his men to the desperate work though he him- 
self has felt the Rebel lead and one of his boots is soaking with blood. 
But the brigade, of which his regiment formed such an honorable 
part, has gained for itself an everlasting name, for it shall be known 
in our history forever as "The Iron Brigade." 

Time fails us this afternoon to follow our hero colonel through 
the succeeding three years of his soldier history — to the hills of 
Pennsylvania where the men of Cutler's Brigade fired the opening 
infantry shots at Gettysburg, to the Wilderness where Cutler him- 
self passed to the command of Wadsworth's division of the Fifth 
Army Corps. We see him leading his men in person through those 
terrible thickets where death lurked and there is blood on the snow 
white beard. Again at Spottsylvania and yet again on the Weldon 
railroad, south of Petersburg, — and here once more the snowy beard 
is crimson-stained, — he commands the same noble division, in which 
is the same gallant brigade and the same brave Wisconsin regiment 
as Colonel of which he received his first baptism of fire at Groveton 
in August, '62. 

Friend, if you chance to drive to South Royalston this evening 
to take your train eastward, as you pass on your left the large barn 
and newly-painted farmhouse of Allen Harrington, remember that 
was once the Cutler farm and that near the clump of lilacs on the 
right of the road was born Lysander Cutler, the honored and beloved 
commander of the Iron Brigade. 

When we reflect on all that Royalston has contributed to the 
public welfare, on how much virtue and strength have gone out of 
her in the sons and daughters whom she has sent forth, is it any won- 
der that they came back by hundreds on this, her natal day, and that 
representatives of state and nation come with them to show her re- 
spect and to do her reverence. 



HISTORY OF KOVALSTON 



MARY (PIERCE) TURNER 

Mary Pierce, daughter uf Mr. and Mrs. William and Sail}- 
(\\'ork) Pierce was born in Royalston. March 5. 1800. She at- 
tended New Salem Academy when 14 years of age. and after 
several years of clerking in the store of her father, and teach- 
ing school, she returned to the Academy for a later course of 
study. She then engaged in teaching, and was a successful 
and popular teacher in the schools of New York and Massa- 
chusetts for a number of years, her last school being in Lunen- 
burg. Mass. She married Leonard R. Turner of Phillipston, 
June 25, 1834. They had two daughters, Mary, who died in 
infancy, and Martha Gale, who married Joseph T. Nichols of 
Royalston. and is the mother of Frederick C and Leonard 
Nichols. Mr. Turner died Sept. 13, 1846, and Mrs. Turner 
lived for nearly half a century thereafter, dying in September, 
1892, at the age of ninety-two years. She was skilled as a 
nurse and spent many hours in the sick room. She was also 
skilled in the use of the needle and left many beautiful speci- 
mens of her work in lace and embroidery. She was a great 
reader and lover of books, and never lost her interest in public 
affairs. The records refer to her as "Mrs. Turner of blessed 
memory." See portrait on Page 269. 



LUTHER E. STEWART 

Luther K. Stewart, for many years a prominent citizen of 
Royalston. was born in Sudbury. Mass., a son of Mr and Mrs. 
James Stewart. He enlisted in hte 21st Mass. Regiment of 
Vounteers at the outbreak of the Civil War, and served nearly 
four years ; at the expiration of his term of enlistment he re- 
enlisted and was transferred to the 36th and 56th Massachu- 
setts Infantry. He was twice wounded in battle, first at 
Antietam, where he received a wound in the face, and later at 
Cold Harbor, when it was found necessary to amputate one 
foot. He married Susan Steele Shepardson, daughter of Eri 
and Elvira (Bemis) Shepardson of Royalston. April 10. 1878, 
and was a resident of this town nearly a third of a century. 
He had three children, two daughters and one son, Eri S. 
Stewart, born April 8, 1887. He was a member of Hul^bard V. 



APPENDIX XI 

Smith Post, G. A. R., of Athol, and was a familiar figure at 
many of the Grand Army g^atherings and regiment reunions 
in this part of the state. He was a prominent member and ac- 
tive worker in the Baptist church at West Royalston, serving 
as superintendent of the Sunday school for twenty years, and 
treasurer of the church about the same length of time. He 
was also interested in town afifairs. and \vas a member of the 
school committee for several years. He died Sept. 12, 1914. 
See portrait Page 96. 



DAVID P. FOSTER 

David P. Foster, who was a well-known citizen of Royal- 
ston for nearly three-ciuarters of a century, was born in 
Temple, N. H., Sept. 4, 1815. a son of Joshua Foster, Jr., and 
Lucy (Tenny) Foster. His grandfather, Joshua Foster, is 
supposed to be the first Foster that landed in America. His 
father and grandfather both took part in the capture of Ticon- 
deroga, his father being only sixteen years old at the time. 
He came to Royalston when a young man, in 1834, and this 
town was his home during the remainder of his long life. He 
was for a number of years employed in the cabinet and furni- 
ture shops of the Holman's at Royalston centre, and later 
bought a farm which he carried on for many years. Soon 
after coming to Royalston he became a member of the First 
Congregational church and was through his life a prominent 
member of the same. On Aug. 31, 1842, he married Nancy P. 
Tenney. daughter of Solomon and Lydia Tenney. She died 
Jan. 25, 1846, of consumption, and March 25, 1847. he married 
Rebeccah M. Walker, daughter of John and Mercy Walker. 
He married, third, Mary (Morse) Bartlett in 1859, by whom 
he had two children, Mary Emma, born in 1865, who died in 
1880, and Dellie Peabody, born in 1868, who married Frank B. 
Doane and resides in Athol. David P. Foster died April 5. 
1903. at the age of 87 years and 7 months, and Mary Bartlett 
Foster died May 17. 1907. 



MYRON WALKER SHERWOOD 

Myron ^^'alker Sherwood, prominent farmer and town 
officer, was born in Barrington. N. Y., son of Mr. and Mrs. 



XII HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 

Loring- Sherwood. His early childhood was spent in his 
native town. Later the family moved to New Jersey, where 
tiiey lived for six years, and then moved to Massachusetts, 
coming to Royalston in 1881. He held the office of Selectman 
in 1897 and 1898, was secretary of the School Committee thir- 
teen years, from 1898 to 1911, and has also been road sur- 
veyor and Forest Fire Warden. He was married Sept. 24, 
1907. to Miss Louise Pratt of Reading, Mass., who had been a 
successful teacher in the schools of Royalston for five years. 
They have one son, Warren W. Sherwood, born March 19, 
1913. 



MILLARD W. WHITE 

John White, the immigrant ancestor of Millard W. White, 
came from the West of England and settled in Salem, Mass., 
in 1638. Michael V. White of the eighth generation, father of 
Millard W., was born in Athol or Winchendon about 1820. 
Millard W. White was born in Winchendon Oct. 18, 1859, was 
educated in the district schools. Engaged in farming and 
lumbering and wdien a young man went into business on his 
own account. He had a saw mill in Winchendon wdiere he 
manufactured and sold lumber. In 1881 he went to Royalston 
where he purchased a saw mill which he continued to run for 
27 years. He was prominent in town affairs, having been 
chairman of the board of Selectmen 13 years, overseer of the 
poor one year and Cemetery Commissioner fourteen years. 
He was employed by the Connecticut River Transmission Co. 
for two years, settling the land damages on the transmission 
line. In 1911 he moved to Winchendon and was employed as 
general superintendent for E. Murdock & Co. for some time 
when he started in the lumber business again for himself, and 
is engaged in that business at the present time. He is a mem- 
ber of the Masonic organizations, the Red Men, Patrons of 
Husbandry and the Congregational church. In 1885 he mar- 
ried Jane L. Goodnow of Oakham, daughter of William and 
Sarah Goodnow. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Adams. Daniel Emerson — 117 
Adams. D. D. — 97-98 
Adams. Dr. Frank W. — 37-38-79- 
109-110-117-118-119-136 - 137 - 
140-141-142-147-150-224 - 349 - 

361-39.5-559 
Adams, Henrv — 117 
Adams, Dr. Henrv O. — 93-94-95- 

109-118-474-510-559 
Adams. John — 117 
Adams, John Quincv — 84-117 
Adams, Mrs. M. A. C. — 94 
Adams, Mabel Winifred — ini-118 
Adams, Robert Winthrop — 101- 

118-395-396-566 
Adams, S:imuel — 83 
Adams, Thomas — 546 
Adams, Dr. Walter H. — 102 
Aiken, Hon. D. W. — 285 
Albee. Hiram W. — 25-78-470-513 
Alden. John — 557 
Allard. Charles — 302 
Allen. Dea. Benjamin — 465 
Allen, George C. — 191-449 
Allen, Lieut. Jonas — 5-15-22-29- 

53-106-327-449 
Allison. Howard A. — 191 
American Woolen Co. — 469-471- 

494-519 
Amsden, Washington H. — 80 
Anderson. Rev. .\sher, D. D. — 144 
Andrews, Elder Elisha — 69 
Area — 3 

Atv.'ell, P. G.^-100 
Arnold. Hon. Isaac — 125 
Assessors — 29-30-31-32-33 
Assessors' Reports — 34-35-36 
Atkinson, William D. — 300 
Austin, Rev. F. D. — 93-474 
Austin, Dr. Horace B. — 525-.^59 
Austin iS: Work — 446-447 



B 

Bacheller. Asa — 24-92-327 
Bacheller. Benjamin — 238 
Bacheller. Dr. Jame.s — 565-120 
Bacheller. Dr. Stephen. Jr. — 24- 
29-36-51-76-78-82-91-92 - 114 - 

116-122- 564 
Bacheller. Dr. Stephen. Sr. — 36- 

106-113-328 
Bacheller. John — 23-29-36-106 
Bacheller, Thomas — 234 
Bacon. Shei-man — 264 
Babcock, James — 48 
Bahcock, Jonas — 15 
Babcock, Ketuia — 86 
Babcock. Solomon — 86 
Baker, Harrison C. — 422-512 
Baker. T.ouis — 422 
Baker, Richard — 25-31 



Baldwin, Eden — 557 
Ball, Weston — 208 
Ball, Wesson — 'tt 
Ballantine, Josephine L. (Per- 
kins) — 275-362-564 
Ballantine, Rev. William O. — 275 

Ballou, Almando — 211-565 

Ballou, Alphonzo — 212 

Ballou, Angelia — 212 

Ballou, Aritania — 212 

Ballou, Benoni — 462 

Ballou, Clarinda — 212 

Ballou, Czarina — 213 

Ballou, DeForest — 211 

Ballou, Devillo — 212 

Ballou, Emeranza — 211 

Ballou, Hosea 2d — 210 

Ballou, Rev. Hosea — 210-370-209 

Ballou, Lorina — 212 

Ballou, L,orenzo-^212 

Ballou, Luther — 210-74 

Ballou, Rev. Maturin — 209 

Ballou, Sophia — 211 

Ballou. Waldo Russell — 213 

Ballou. Russell — 74-90 

Bancroft, Chester — 82 

Banks, Dwight M. — 530 

Bannon, Rev. Thomas H. — 479 

Baptist Church, Royalston Cen- 
tre — 72-73 

Baptist Church, Warwick — 68 

Baptist Church, West Royalston 
— 65 to 72 

Barber, Harding- R. — 80 

Barnard. Rev. P .F. — 475 

Barnes, Rev. Asa — 4 78 

Barnes, A. S. — 164 

Barnes, Charles D. — 439 

Barnes, Myron E.- — 439 

Barnum, Frve & Co. — 191 

Barrett, Albe.-t L. — 550 

Barrett, Clayton A. — 550 

Barrett, George H. — 422 

Barrett, Rev. Samuel, D. D. — 100- 
5 63 

Barrus, John W. — 417-422 

Barrus. Marshall — 417-422 

Barrus, William G. — 422 

Bartlett. Cora Vinette — 238 

Bartlett. Edward E. — 234-237 

Bartlett. Elmer — 234 

Bartlett. Hubert Carlton — 237-447 

Bartlett. Ira — 234 

Bartlett, John N. — 25-31-32-37-93 
107-127-128-235-236-237 

Bartlett. Jonas — 234-235 

Bartlett. Joseph — 233 

Bartlett, Luke — 234 

Bartlett, Nathan — 233-234 

Bartlett, Nathaniel — 233 

Bartlett, Nelson Herbert — 237 

Bartlett, Ollie — 235 

Bartlett, John C. — 542 

Barton. Benjamin — 409-410 

Barton, Bezaleal — 405-406-410 

Barton. Bezaleal. Jr. — 405-410 

Barton. Ezra — 409-410 



IV 



HISTORY OF ROYAI.STON 



Barton, Jonathan — 405-408-409- 

410 
Barton, Peter — 410 
Barton, Samuel — 410-53 
Barton, Willis H. — 422 
Bassett, Rev. M. — 478 
Batcheller, Fred L. — 538 
Batcheller, George S. — 286-504- 

505 
Batcheller, Isaac — 538 
Batcheller, Silas W. — 537 
Bates, Dr. Charles A. — 560 
Bates, C. Waldo — 80 
Bates, Rev. James A. — 475-474 
Baxter, James — 122 
Beach, Rev. E. J. — 475 
Beadv, Harry — 549 
Beal, Serg't. Thomas — 405-407- 

410-50 
Beale, Obadiah — 409-410 
Beals, C. L. — 247 
Beals, Edward A. — 498 
Beals, Edward G. — 32 
Beals & Bowker — 247 
Beaman. Ephraim — 382 
Bears & Catamounts — 50 
Beckwith, Charles E. — 502 
Beckwith, Nathaniel G. — 502 
Beckwith & Stockwell — 470-471 
Beecher. Mrs. Henry Ward — 57 
Beer.s, Capt. — 3 
Bellows, James — 464 
Bellows, Thoma.s — 287 
Bemis, Charles Bertram — 344 
Bemis, Emil H. — 343-71-72 
Bemis, George A. — 71-140-343 
Bemis, George Herbert — 342 
Bemis, John — 342 
Bemis, Jonas — 342 
Bemis & Jon^s — 470 
Bemis, Leonard Atwood — 345 
Bemis, Luke — 342-415 
Bemis, Luke Emil — 93, 94-342 
Bemis, Levi F. — 342 
Bemis, Otis — 25-31-82-550 
Bemis, Roger William — 343 
Bemis, Samuel Atwood — 342 
Bemis, Susan Amanda — 342 
Bemis. William S. — 342 
Bemis, Nathan — 415 
Benjamin, W. — 74 
Benchlv, Henry W. — 259 
Bennett, H. C. — 99 
Bennett, Henrv L. — 433 
Benton, Col. Josiah — 463 
Bervls — 46 
Bervl, Hill Mine — 47 
Best, Rev. E. S. — 355 
Bickford, John C. — 194 
Biennial Reunion of School Dis- 
trict No. 7 — 141 
Bigelow, Joseph H. — 375 
Bigelow, J .Warren — 174 
Bigelow, Lyman E. — 375 
Bigelow, William Fordyce — 374- 

375 
Billings, Lewis S. — 262 
Bird, William — 254 
Bishop, Ansel — 547 
Bissell, Emerson E. — 423 
Blanchard, Benjamin- — ^467-468- 

513 
Blanchard, Charles — 423 
Blandin, George W. — 112-447 
Blanding, Ebenezer — 23-30-88-339 

-468 
Bliss, Aaron — 196-408-410 
Bliss, Abel — 192-193-74-91 



Bliss, Andrew Jackson — 196-444 

Bliss, Benj. W. — 196 

Bliss. Benj. W., Jr. — 196 

Bliss. Daniel — 25-197 

Bliss, Edward M. — 194 

Bliss. Elmer Wait — 197-198-564 

Bliss, Frederick J. — 94-193 

Bliss, Harrison — 129-195-564 

Bliss, Hervey Winchell — 25-31-94 
-141-197 

Bliss, Israel — 196 

Bliss, James Henry — 197-198 

Bliss, Nathan — 192-193-411 

Bliss, Nicena — 194 

Bliss, Pamelia Washburn — 195 

Bliss, Persis Ann Lucretia- — 196 

Bliss, Phillip Harrison — 93-141- 
143-197-444 

Bliss, Roland N.— 193 

Bliss, Samuel — 465 

Bliss, Stephen — 196 

Bliss, Sutton & Co. — 195 

Bliss. Thomas — 19i 

Bliss, Timothv — 29-196 

Bliss, Timothy, Jr. — 91-199 

Bliss, Timothy Warren — 197 

Bliss. Wm. Howe — 195 

Bliss, Samuel — 91-92 

Bliss, S. W. — 379 

Bliss, Mrs. P. H. — 141 
Blodgett, George — 112 
Blodgett, Percival — 99-100 
Blodgett, Stillman — 112 

Blood & Brown — 176 
Blood, Lorenzo W. — 476 
Blood, William — 266-267 
Bodett, Jesse Edgar — 497-498 
Bolton, George D.— 38-143-341 
Bolton, Elmer — 341 
Bolton, Lewellyn Sumner — 341 
Bolton, Lewellvn Sumner, Jr — 341 
Bond. Henry — 17-23-29-30-80-81- 

106-402-407-410 
Booth. C. W. — 125 
Bosworth Amos Bemis— 846-423 
Bosworth. Benjamin Hammond — 

346 
Bosworth, Chauncy — 34 6 
Bosworth. Chilson— 346 
Bosworth. Chilson, Jr. — 347-444 
Bosworth, George Washington — 

346 
Bosworth, Hosea Augustus — 346- 

423 
Bosworth, Ichabod — 346 
Bosworth, Joel Sibley — 346-423 
Bosworth. Jonathan — 345 
Bosworth. Jonathan, Jr. — 346-49 
Bosworth, Joseph — 346 
Bosworth, Joseph Nelson — 346 
Bosworth, Joseph W. — 346-423 
Bosworth, Levi — 346-421-424 
Bosworth, Sidney G. — 148-347-363 

364-365 
Bosworth, Silas — 346 
Bosworth, William — 346 
Bosworth, William S. — 346 
Bowdoin, James — 1-83 
Bowker, Albert M. — 543 
Bowker, Charles — 534 
Bowker, Charles Alfred — 247 
Bowker, Charles Watson — 246- 

247-102-47-399-566 
Bowker, Charges Watson, Jr — 248 
Bowker, Cora H. — 543 
Bowker, Edwin Luther — 543 
Bowker, George Arthur — 248 
Bowker, George W. — 424 



INDKX 



Bowker, Harrison Winthrop — 248 
Bowker, John B. — 247-3!t9-400 
Bowker, Lena May — 248-101 
Bowker, Nathaniel — 246 
Bowker, Samuel Ward — 245 

Samuel W. — 411 

Silas — 245-246 

Silas W. — 246 
Stephen Bigelow — 245- 



Bowker, 
Bowker, 
Bowker, 
Bowker, 

246 
Bowker, 
Bowker, 



Rov Clement — 543 
Luther — 542 
Bowker, Luther — 542-543 
Boyden, Elbridge — 72 
Bovnton, Alfred W. — 546 
Bradish Addison S. — 417-424 
Bradley, Rev. Enoch — 476-525 
Brad I ey , M i 1 ton— 375 
Bradstreet, Simon — 187 
Bragg, Benjamin — 304-82-449-454 
Bragg, Benj. Leroy — 305 
Bragg, Benj. Leroy, Jr. — 305 
Bragg, Everett B. — 101-306-307- 

565 
Bragg, Dr. Francis A. — 306-307 
Bragg, Henry O. — 304-306 
Bragg, Henrv W. — 306 
Bragg, Ira — 30«-305 — 328 
Bragg, Jesse Kendall — 304-105- 

101 
Bragg, John Hervey — 304 
Bragg, Lysander Franklin — 304 
Bragg, Nathaniel — 304-23-88-91- 

92-104 
Bragg, Nathaniel Wilson — 304- 

305-203 
Bragg, Maria L. — 109-306-307 
Bragg, Warren S. — 306 
Bragg, Will Thornton — 306 
Brenaut, Ernest — 171 
Brewer, Lewis — 74 
Brewer, Jonas — 74-410 
Brewer, .Jonas, Jr. — 415 
Brewer, Col. Samuel — 228 
Bridge, John — 294 
Brigham, James Lewis — 190 
Brodie, William A. — 202 
Brooks, Rev. C. — 70 
Brooks, Charles Coe — 383 
Brooks, Charles Howe — 26-32-549 

-557 
Brooks, John, Jr. — 557 
Brooks, Hon. John — 83 
Brooks, John Forrester — 174 
Brooks, Oscar T. — 80 
Brown, Arthur C. — 101-123-125 
Brown, Arthur H. — 176 
Brown, Col. Benjamin — 24-30-31- 

92-78-82-173-115 
Brown, Benjamin E. — 176 
Brown, Benjamin Hammond — 19- 
25-79-94-95-292-128-140 - 175 - 
420-424-446-453 
Brown, Benjamin S. H. — 101 
Brown Bros. & Co. — 498 
Brown, Charles H. — 26-27-28-55- 

95-136-141-142-143-175-456 
Brown, Crehore & Co. — 173-176 
Brown, Edward — 172 
Brown, Edward — 502 
Brown, Edward Augustus — 81- 

173-176-439-563 
Brown. Elisha F. — 31-79-125-470 
Brown, Eliza Morse — 174 
Brown, Miss E. R. — 98 
Brown, Franklin A. — 38-39-424- 

444-508 
Brown, Frank H. — 175 



Brown, George — 424 

Brown, Joseph — 172 

Brown, Rev. Joseph — 115 

Brown, Lizzie — 140 

Brown, Moses R. — 174 

Brown, Nicholas — 172 

Brown, William — 106-328-411 

Brown, William L. — 175 

Brown, William O. — 81-82-173- 
174-439-563 

Bruce, Abel — 254 

Bruce, David — 86 

Bruce, Josia — 86 

Bryant, Rev. Albert — 99-101-127- 
132-139-214-359-458-565 

Bryant, Miss E. — 98 

Bryant. Almeda (Dexter) — 239 

Bryant, Calvin Turner — 239 

Bryant, Lucien — 268-359-382 

Bryant, Solon — 382-383 

Bryant, Waldo Calvin — 240 

Bryant. Waldo Gerald — 240 

Buffum, Benjamin — 194 

Buffum, James — 51-92-460 

Bullard, Rev. Asa — 57 

Bullard, Rev. Ebenezer — 20-21- 
53-5 6-57-59-61-79-93-127-128- 
129-185-224-416-453 

Bullard, William H. — 345-490-566 

Bullock, Alexander Hamilton — 8- 
9-34-48-54-55-56-70-73-74 - 82- 
83-84-101-123-127-130-180-181- 
182-563 

Bullock, Barnet — 19-25-34-36-61 - 
78-82-128-183-446-453 

Bullock, Barnet Ellis — 184 

Bullock, Brigham Newton — 184 
-566 

Bullock, Calvin — 183-184 

Bullock, Calvin — 183 

Bullock, Miss Candace — 61 

Bullock, Charles A. — 112 

Bullock, Charles S. — 185 

Bullock Family — 177 

Bullock, Serg't. David — 407-410 

Bullock, F. — 98 
Bullock, Col. Geo. A. — 143-182 
Bullock, Emilv — 182 
Bullock, Hugh — 178-408-410 
Bullock, James Frederick — 185 
Bullock, Miss L. L. — 98 
Bullock, Mrs. Mary E. — 35 
Bullock. Louisa Maria — 182 
Bullock, Moulton — 22 
Bullock, Richard — 142 
Bullock, Hon. Rufus — 24-30-36- 
37-62-76-78-81-82-85-91 - 103 - 
139-146-178-179-180-373 - 378 - 
563-523-473-470-469-458-256 
Bullock, Rufus Henry — 37-183 
Bullock, Bebecca — 183 
Burbank & Stone— 323 
Burbank, Ebenezer — 410 
Burdett, Organ Co. — 198 
Burditt, Chas. F. — 493 
Burr, William H. — 118 
Burton, Rev. Asa, D. D. — 225 
Burgess. Martin — 424 
Burgess. Mirick — 425 
Bush.Ephraim — 284 
Bussannus, Adolphus — 425 
Butler, Benjamin F. — 84 
Byam, Dea. Leonard — 189 
Byron, Leonard — 140 



Call, Dr. Thomas — 215 



VI 



HISTORY OF ROVALSTON 



Callander. Henry & Co. — 488 
Cambridge. Kdward — 468 
Campbell. J. W. C— 241 
Cardanv, Joseph B. — 451 
Carkins, George E. — 323 
Carpenter, Albert H. — 492 
Carpenter, Edward A. — 492-493- 

494 
Carpenter. Prof. Walter — 116 
Carroll, Lysander — 440 
Carruth, Charles A. — 80 
Carruthers. Charles — 551 
Carter, Rev. Mr. — 478 
Carter, Mary Evelyn — 374 
Caswell. L. B.— 99-144-511-512 
Catamounts — 60 
Chaddock. Alvin — 164 
Chamberlain. Herbert Bela — 337 
Chamberlain, John — 337 
Chamberlain, John — 337-415-465- 

460-87 
Chamberlain. Joseph — 87 
Chamberlain, Samuel — 337 
Chamberlain, Simeon — 337-87 
Chamberlain, Simeon — 337 
Chamberlain, Simeon — 337 
Chamberlain, Thomas — 337 
Chamberlain, Thomas — 338 
ChamberMn, Simeon — 66-85-86-87 
Chamberlin, John — 66-87 
Chamberlin, Theopholis — 53 
Chamberlin, Thomas — 15-65-66- 

67-404-410 
Chamberlain, Stillman — 425 
Chandler, John, Jr. — 1-91 
Chang-es in Schools — 98-99 
Chapin, Rev. G. E. — 475 
Chapin, C. C. — 26-93-94-554 
Chapin, Walter S. — 554 
Chase, AqulUa — 299 
Chase, Aquilla 2d — 299 
Cha-se, Charles A. — 81 
Chase, Charles F. — 303-554 
Chase, Chauncey — 19-20-61-118- 

300-301 
Chase, David — 299-300 
Chase, Elizabeth Wait — 109-136- 

300 
Chase, Ella Amelia — 303 
Chase, Ella Perkins — 300 
Chase, Elliott Bartlett — 303 
Chase, Ernest T. — 302 
Chase, Francis — 22-23 
Chase, Lieut. Francis — 299 - 407 - 

408-410-412 
Chase, Francis — 302 
Chase, Francis Chapin — 303 
Chase, Frank W. — 303 
Chase, Flora E. — 303 
Chase, Frederick B. — 302 
Chase, George — 35-61-301 
Chase, George 1.. — 301-425 
Chase, George Washington — 303 
Chase, HoTls Boiton — 303 
Chase, J. — 98 
Chase, John — 299 
Chase, John Slade — 302-303-425 
Chase, Joseph Howard — 303 
Chase, Phillip — 299 
Chase, Sir Richard — 299 
Chase, Roger Clark — 303 
Chase, Thoma.s — 299 
Chase, Thomas Follensbee — 303 
Cha.se, William — 91-92 
Chase, Sir William — 299 
Chase, William Henrv — 302-425 
Chase, Capt. William — 2 
Chase, Roger.s — 410-545 



Chase, Silas — 410-233 
Chase, William J. — 415 
Cheney, Charles E. — 208 
Cheney, Eliphalet — 30 
Cheney, Elisha — 461 
Cheney, Ezra Adams — 191 
Cheney, James M. — 263-264 
Choate, John L. — 297 
Choate, Harry Raymond — 297 
Choate, Chas. Buckingham — 297 
Choate, Rufus — 384 
Chubb. Silas — 464 
Church, Bell — 62 
Churches of Royalston — 52 
Claflin, William & Co. — 253 
Clancv, Rev. W. P. — 4 75 
Clark,' Aijah — 404-410 
Clark, Ambrose — 555-425-513 
Clark, Ambrose Handel — 556 
Clark, Benjamin — 554 — 411 
Clark, Cortland A. — 555-504-417- 

425 
Clark, Bertha Winifred — 101-105 

-565 
Clark, Eben — 555 
Clark, Erza Tower — 555 
Clark, George F. — 557 
Clark, Farrar & Leathe — 371 
Ciark, Handel — 504 
Clark, James — 82 
Clark, Henry — 371 
Clark, Lyman — 555 
Clark, Lvman J. — 555 
Clark, Lvman L. — 555-35-36-504 
Clark, Melancthon W. S. — 556 
Clark, Moses Lovell — 555 
Clark, Samuel — 554 
Clark, Samuel W. — 554 
Clark, Timothy — 556 
Clark, Timothy — 556 
Clark, Wm. B — 556 
Clark, Mrs. D. P. — 35-61 
Clark, Rev. Samuel — 41 
Clark, Edson — 519-415-54 
Clark, Rev. A. V.— 70 
Clark, Thomas — 426 
Clark, Walter W. — 557 
Clement, Arthur C. — 426 
Clement, Asa B.— 328 
Clement, Benjamin F. — 328 
Clement, Dwight E. — 328 
Clement, Henry S. — 328 
Clement, Isaac — 327 
Clement, James — 327 
Clement, Sylvander — 328 
Clement, S. C— >53 
Clement, Walter H. — 328 
Clement, William — 327 
Clement, William — 328-405-410 
(^lement, William, Jr. — 328 
Clement, Will A. — 328 
Clement, William W. — 438 
('obb, Thomas — 454 
Coffin, Silas — 469 
Colburn, Rev. Eugene — 494 
Cole, Jefferson K. — 99-141 
Coleman, Ezra — -;78 
College Graduates — 10(1-101-102 
Coller, Calvin — 552 
Collins, Leonr,id--445 
Conant, Edwin — 227 
Condon, Randall J. — 100 
Congregational Parsonage — 61 
Connor, Thomas — 426 
converse, Frc.nk — J43 
Converse, M. E. — 553 
Cook, Caleb A. — 25-379-454 
Cook, D vid — 331-379-426 
Cooke, Dr. E. Ward— 528 



INDEX 



VII 



Coolidge, Rev. Dr. — 57 

Cooper, Robert — 1-2 

Cooper, Rev. Warren — 548 

Copeland, David — 29-411 

Cornell & Vanderburgh — 229 

Courv, Dr. — 559 

Cowick, Robert E. — 142 

Crafts, James M. — 42 

Crawford, John — 85 

Crawford, Robert D. — 245 

Crawford, William — 460 

Crehore, W. A. — 173 

Crosby, Rev. Timothy — 284 

Cross, Ebenezer — 516 

Cross, Edward W. — 426-514 - 515- 

516 
Cross. Fred W. — 80-95-101-136- 
139-142-151-152-481-485 - 486- 

504-518-566 
Cross, Wilder — 484-504-540 
Cross, Charles A. — 80 
Cumming:s, Lieut. Col. Charles — 

390-391-439-563 
Cumming's, Rev. George H. — 382 
Cummings, Rev. Henry — 381-382- 

391-101 
Cummings, Dea. Henry B. — 382 
Cummings, Isaac — 391 
Cummings, Isaac, Jr. — 292 
Cummings, Joshua — 381-390 
Cummings, Dr. Silas — 391 
Curtis, Rev. H. W. — 71-144 
Cutler, Rev. Ebenezer — 565-101 
Cutler, Ebenezer — 280-410 
Cutler, Ezekiel — 15 
Cutler, George- -S81-282 
Cutler, George H. — 281-282 
Cutler, John — 282 
Cutler, Jonathan — 280 
Cutler, Levi — 281 
Cutler, Otis — 281-282 
Cutler, Major General Lysander 

— 281-440-563 
Cutler, Tarrant — 281-25-30-31-78 

91- 92 
Cutler, Rev. Temple — 57 
Cutler, Rev. S. — 70 
Cutter, Edward G. — 550 
Cutting, Nathan — 5-15-53-89 
Cutting, Silas — 6-53-408-410 
Cushing, Lieut. -Gov. Grafton D. 

— 150 
Cushing, Col. Job — 408 
Cushman, Rev. John P. — 57 

D 

Dadmun, Samuel — 173 

Damon, Col. Samuel — 230 

Damond, Richard — 553 

Dana, Caleb — 1 

Darling, Rev. Samuel D. — 93-475 

Davis, Alvin — 316 

Davis, A. — 98 

Davis, Ansil — 312 

Davis, Capt. Asahel — 24-30-31-51- 

78-90-91-120-311-460 
Davis, Barney — 311 
Davis, Benjamin — 91-311-468 
Davis, Benjamin — 312 
Davis, Cephas — 312 
Davis, Charles S. — 315-426 
Davis, Cyrus — 25-50-78-82-93-127 

-128-312 
Davis, Daniel — 19-94-128-138-141- 

311-460 
Davis, Daniel — 25-31-50 
Davis, E. — 98 



Davis, Edward Livingston — 227 

Davis, Elisha — 312-286 

Davis, Emory A. — 315 

Davis, Perondo — 316 

Davis, Dr. Hosea — 120-121-316- 

101-454 
Davis, Hosea D. — 315-454 
Davis, Hon. Isaac — 226 
Davis, Jarvis — 25-31-79-127-128- 

316-244 
Davis, Lieut. John — 309 
Davis, John — 310-32-90-411 
Davis, John — 312-409-410 
Davis, Joseph— 90-311-210 
Davis, Josenh — 312 
Davis, Joseph 2d — 24-31-74-82-91- 

92 
Davis, Jay — 99-317-454-426 
Davis, Lorenzo — 316 
Davis, Squire — 23-24-78-92-310 - 

409-410-242 
Davis, Svlvester — 310-410 
Davis, Willie W. — 315-140-141- 

143 
Davis, Hugh Goddard — 445 
Dwison, Herbert Milton — 241 
Day, Anthony — 523 
Day, Caleb W. — 523-521-25-26-31- 

32-35-36-37-517-94-110-143-4 53 

454-492-498-474-470 
Dav, Charles L. — 524 
Day, Daniel — 469-373 
Dav, David W. — 550 
Day, John — 523 
Day. John W. — 524 
Day, Josephus T. — 498-514 
Day, David W. — 426-454 
Day, Nathan S. — 426 
Day, Uri C. — 426-92-477-478 
Day, William E. — 347 
Day, Ira — 477 

Day of Pasting and Prayer — 16 
Deane, Dr. Ebenezer A.— 122 
Deane, Dr. Henry A. — 118 
Deane, Jeremiah — 122 
Deavitt, Edward H. — 530 
Deavitt, George T. — 530 
Deavitt, Henrv M. — 530 
Deavitt, William J. — 530 
Deavitt, Thomas J. — 530 
Dedication of Pourth Baptist 

Church — 71 
Dedication of Third Baptist 

Church — 71 
Dedication of Phinehas Newton 

Library — 135 
Deland, Clarence H. — 142-455 
Delegates — 80-81 
Delvey, Samuel — 546 
Demond & Brown — 176 
Denno, Rev. John W. — 71 
Dexter, Almeda — 239 
Dexter, Bela — 241 
Dexter, Ebenezer Wheeler — 238- 

239-208 
Dexter, Earnest A. — 241 
Dexter, Everett Wheeler — 245 
Dexter, Henry L. — 241 
Dexter, Herbert Bela — 241 
Dexter, James — 238 
Dexter, James Eugene — 239 
Dexter, John — 239-415 
Dexter, Moses Walker — 240 
Dexter, Rachel — 239 
Dexter, Samuel — 83 
Dexter, B. — 98 
Dickinson, Marquis P. — 359 
Dickinson, E. E. — 38-449 



VIII 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 



Division Into School Districts— 

88-89 
Division of Lands — 4 
Divoll, Arthur — 508 
Dike, William— 17-404-405-410 
Dillingham. W. P. — 385 
Dithmar, Edward F. — 398 
Doane, Amos — 347-448-449 
Doane, Bernard H. — 427 
Doane, Byron — 347-421-427 
Doane, Frank H.— 347 
Doane, Reginald F. — 347 
Doane, Wm. C. — 427 
Doanes Falls — 44 
Dole, Carlton — 124 
Donovan, Rev. Richard P. — 479 
Doolittle, Col. Ephraim— 404-405 
Dow, John — 438 
Drurv, Calvin — 304 
Drury, Calvin — 305 
Drurv, Edwin — 487 
Drury, Elisha — 486-487 
Drury, Ephraim — 193 
Drury, Frederick L. — 511-512 
Drury, George W. — 548 
Drury, Horace — 305 
Drury, Hugh — 487 
Drury, Leander M. — 487-524 
Drury, Col. Luke — 407 
Drury, Leon Arthur — 487 
Drurv, Ralph Sherwin — 487 
Drurv, Sarah A. —102-304 
Drury. Susan F. — 103-304 
Dunn, Rev. Andrew — 71-476 
Dutton, George D. — 387 
Dwinnell & Bliss — 198 



E 



Earle, Henry — 387 

Earle, W. C. — 98 

Earlv Town Meetings — 15 

Earlv School Committees — 30-31- 

32 
Eaton, Charles A. — 536 
Eaton, John — 465 
Eaton, J. M. — 93 
Eaton, Joseph R. — 34-128 
Eaton, Rev. R. C. — 71 
Eaton, Rev. W. H. — 72 
Eddy, Abraham — 225 
Eddv, Benjamin — 250 
Eddv, C. A. — 194 
Eddy, Franklin A. — 417-427 
Edgerly, S. H.— 506 
Edmonds, E. J. — 100 
Education — 85 
Ellis, Edwin — 79-298 
Ellis, Frederick Owen — 533 
Ellis, John — 411 
Ellis, Paul — 30-457 
Ellis, Robert Hale — 533 
Ellis, Walter F. — 101-533 
Elliot, Ebenezer — 407-410 
Ely, Rev. William — 170 
Ellyot, Thomas — 86 
Emerson, Elias — 415 
Emerson, John D. — 440 
Emerson, Joseph — 29-30-61 

411 
Eninger, Charles — 263 
Ernst, C. W. — 393 
Erskine, W^alter — 74 



62 - 



Estabrook. Joseph— 24-31-34-35- 
36-37-78-81-91-92-111-112-139- 
200-225-226- 296-446-447-461 

Estabrook, Joseph — 225-226 

Estabrook, Joseph P. — 226 

Estabrook, Maria C. — 226-227 

Estabrook, Mary H. — 226 

Estabrook, Rev. Joseph — 55-62- 
111 

Estabrook, Samuel — 278 

Estey, Edward — 329 

Estey, Isaac — 329 

Estev, Isaac— 22-66-67-85-329 

Estey, Jacob — 23-30-66-81-88-89- 
460-458 

Estey, Jacob — 329 

Estey, Jacob — 330 

Estey, Jeffrey — 329 

Estey, John — 329 

Estev, Joseph — 329 

Estey, Israel — 329 

Estey, Julius J.— :B0-:«l 

Estey, Rev. Jonathan L. — 478 

E\-ans, Alden — 543 

Evans, Charles H. — 543 

Everett, Charles — 550 

Eyers, Rev. John C. — 474-475 



Fairbanks, Calista (Peck) — 139- 

287 
Fairbanks. Daniel — 468 
Fairbanks. Emory — 59 
Fairbanks. Ernest Hayward — 59 
Fairbanks, Rev. Francis J. — 58-59 

-71-95-110-137-138-139-140-144 

474-475 
Fairbanks, Herbert Stockwell — 

59 
Fairbanks, Isaiah — 468 
Fairbanks, Jonatlian — 59 
Fales, Lemuel — 25-31 
Fales & Lehy— 488 
Palkner. Ammi — 23-29-30-75-76- 

87-106-201-411 
Fallon, Martin — -427 
Farrar, Daniel — 519 
Farrar, Edwin Evans — 520 
Farrar, Gardner — 371 
Farrar, Salmon S. — 519-34-35-127 

452-453-515-468-470-455 
Farrar, S. Nelson — 520-521-535 
Farrar, Walter N.— 521-26 - 96 - 

142-143-145-146-535 
Farrar. Nellie G. W. — 95-94-143 
Fav, Farwell F. — 79 
Fay. John — 276 
Fay, Rev. Lysander — 74 
Fay. S. E. & Co.— 197 
Felch, Caleb — 411 
Felch, Nathan — 411 
Felch. Samuel — 411 
Felch, Samuel J. — 411 
Ferguson, Rev. William — 478 
First Congregational Church — 

52-53 to 59 
First Baptist Meeting House — 67 
First Librarv — 106 
First Old Home Week — 138-139 
First School — 86 
First Schoolmasters — 86-87 
First Town Hall — 14-15-18 
Fish. Allen — 427 
Fish. William W. — 79 
Fisher, Augustus J. — 309-99-141 



INDEX 



IX 



Fisher, Capt. David — 307-24-30- 

74-91-531 
Fisher, Edwin Augustus — 309- 

103-139-396-566 
Fisher, Edward Everett — 309 
Fisher, Elmer H. — 309 
Fisher, Feronda W. — 309 
Fisher, Horace — 308-309-396-454- 

454 
Fisher, Jason — 308-74-208 
Fisher, Jacob — 234 
Fisher, Orvis — 309 
Fisher, Jabez — 410 
Fisher, Lewis— 523 
Fisher, Edwin Horace — 397 
Fisher, Lewis Gates — 397 
Fi.sher, Wm. Brackenridge — 397 
Fiske, Robert F. — 122 
Fiske, Dr. Oliver — 195 
Fiske, Samuel Augustus — 101-122 
Flagg, Dr. Andrew Jackson — 102- 

Flagg, Benjamin Frank — 417-421 

Flagg, George A. — 440 

Flagg, John Sabin — 550 

Fletcher, Francis — 468 

Flint, Edward J. — 99 

Flint. William R. — 558 

Fogg, Rev. Charles O.— 59-60-136 

-137-141-143-144-150 
Fogg, Edwin Willard — 60 
Follet, John — 99 
Follett Isaac — 216 
Forbes, Calvin — 339 
Forbes, Charles — 93-94 
Forbes Falls — 42-43 
Forbes, James — 23-90 
Forbes, Levens G.— 32-33-108-1 10 

-141-142-143-455-456-146 
Porbush, Chauncy — 415 
Forest, Gen. N. B. — 243 
Forristall, Jesse — 557 
Forristall, Jonas — 462 
Forristall, Sylvender B. — 26-557 
Forristall, William — 558 
Forristall, P. J. — 458 
Forsaith, John — 427 
Fosgate, Dr. K. C — 197 
Foster, Charles G. — 427 
Foster, Daniel — 542 
Foster, David P. — 347-208 
Foster, Rev. Davis — 57 
Foster, Henry N — 52'' 
Foster, Hugh — 284 
Foster, Silas — 411-233 
Poster, William — 464 
Fox, C. B. — 207 
France, Rev. M. R. — 124 
Free Donation Societv — 74 
Freeman, Frank — 428' 
Freeman, Isaac — 85-86-89 
Freemont, John C. — 263 
French, Almira H. — 93 
French, Alonzo — 428-516 
French, Brazier H.— 444 
French, F. S. — 492 
French, Lucius F — 4->8 
French, Lieut. Micah— 412 
French, Herbert W — 544 
French, Sumner C. — 112-14'-447 
Frost. Rufus S.— 373-469 " 
I* rye. Asa — 188 

^'■>'^^qBenjamin— 188-25-31-37-78- 

Frye, Benjamin A. — 187-401-428 
Brye. Benjamin Alexander — 189 
Frye, Daniel — 188 
Frye, David — 187 



Frye, Ebenezer — 187-23-24-37-404 

407-410 
Frye, Ebenezer — 188 
Frye, Ebenezer — 188 
Frye, George A. — 190 
Frye, George E. — 187-440 
Frye, George Ebenezer — 188-189 
Frye, Capt. John — 185-186 
Frye, John — 187-15-16-22-23-29- 

36-53-78-81-464 
Frye, John — 188-191-401 
Frye, John Kendal! — 191 
Frye, Merton Benjamin — 191 
Frye, Royal Merrill — 190 
Frye, Stephen — 217 
Frye. William W. — 187 
Frye, William Watrous — 188 
Frye, William Bixbv — 191 
Frye, William A. — 5*9-95-141-142- 

190 
Frye. Benjamin H. — 143 
Frye. Frank Barton — 190 
Fuller, Albert A. — 338 
Fuller, Samuel — 88 
Furbur, Samuel Winklev — 169 
Furbush, Rufus — 91 



Gale, Rev. Amorv — 229-230-231- 

232-101-563-218-257 
Gale, Charles S. — 230 
Gale, Edward C. — 230 
Gale, Harlow A. — 229-232-257 
G^le, Harlow Stearns — 233 
Gale, Henry A. — 285 
Gale, Capt. Isaac — 227-223 
Gale, Isaac — 228-29-31 
Gale, Isaac, Jr. — 228 
Gale, Isaac 2d — 228-92-415 
Gale, Jonathan — 228-90-31-82-409 

-410 
Gale , Richard — 227 
Gale, Robert Griggs — 233 
Gale, Samuel C. — 228-240-69-101- 

287-127-128-563 
Gale, William Goddard — 233 
Gale. Otis — 25-31 
Gale. Peter — 410 
Gardner, C. M. — 507 
Garfield, Andrew B. — 332 
Garfield, Andrew Paine — 332 
Garfield — .\nsel H. — 332 
Garfield, Artemas — 331 
Garfield, Caleb — 331 
Garfield, Charles — 331 
Garfield, Gardner — 332 
Garfield, Joshua — 331 
Garfield, Leonard Dwinnell — 332 
Garfield, Moses — 331-415-74-9'> 
Garfield, Moses — 332 
Garfield, Moses, Jr. — 332 
Garfield, Moses Dwinnell — 332 
Garner, Joseph — 417-428-504 
Gatchell. Dr. D. H. — 146 
Gates, Arthur — 291 
Gates, Charles Whitman — 290 
Gates, Clarence L. — 291 
Gates. Joel H. — 72-290-563 
Gates, Jonathan — 289 
Gates, Levi — 289 
Gates, Lorenzo — 553 
Gates, Stephen — 289 
Gates, Stephen J. — 291 
Gates, Thomas — 289 
Gates, Walter Benton — 290 
Gates, Willie E. — 290 



HIS TORY OF R ) v' V :.S T ) <! 



Geratt. Rev. James — 478 
Gerrish, Col. Josiah — 409 
Gerrv, Elbridge — 83 
Gibbs, Rev. E. P. — 478 
Gibson, George — 286 
Giggie, J. — 556 
Giles. Sanford — 428 
Gilman. Rev. B. S. — 474 
Goddard, Asahei — 1^56 
Goddard, Benjamin — 255 
Goddard, Benjamin — 257-564 
Goddard, Charles — 262-440 
Goddard. Charles Virgil — -262-440 
Goddard, Davis — 264-129-566 
Goddard, Edward — 255 
Goddard, Edward — 261 
Goddard, Franklin Horatio — 36- 

263-143-412-266 
Goddard. Henry — 256 
Goddard. Henry — 264 
Goddard, Herbert S. — 72-141-2611 
Goddard, Ira Nathaniel — 259 
Goddai-d. James — 256 
Goddard, Joseph — 541 
(lOddard, Josiali — 261 
Goddard, Josiah — ^264 
Goddard, Nathan — 20-461 
Goddard, Nathaniel — 258-415 
Goddard, Salnu.n — 260-24-30-31- 

78-91-92-141-244 
Goddard, Col. Salmon — 259 
Goddard, Samuel — 255-23-29-36- 

464 
Goddard, Samuel — 257-232 
Goddard & Rice — ^258 
Goddard, Sanford — 264 
Goddard, Simon — 261 
Goddard. Walter F. — 199 
Goddard. William — 255 
Goddard, William Bailey — 255 
Goddard, Wesley D. — 421-428 
Goldsbury, Ralph S. — 241 
Goodale, E. K. & Co. — 270 
Goodale, Josiah — 404-405-407-4 lo 
Goodell, Charles H. — 123-125 
Goodspeed, George N. — 212 
Goodspeed, Harrison P. — 213 
Goodspeed, Isaac — 212-213 
Goodspeed, Thomas H. — 79 
Goodspeed & Wvman — 212-213 
Goodvear, Rev. T. — 475 
Gorton, Rev. Phill — 478 
Goss, John — 488 
Gould, Rev. Albert^478 
(iould. Dr. J. B. — 558 
Graduates of Colleges — 100-101- 

102-103-104-105 
Graduates of State Noimal 

Schools — 103 
Grant, Aaron — 6-428 
Grant, Michael — 6 
Grant, Stephen — 457-459 
Grant, Rev. Wm. G. — 478 
Graves, Rev. Arthur A. — 478 
Graves, Rev. Joseph M. — 69-92 
Graves, W, D. — 216 
Greeley, Archer K. — 340 
Greeley, Charles E. — 340 
Greeley, Jonas E. — 340-417-421- 

428 
Greeley, Nathaniel — 340-162 
Green, Irijah — 404-409 
Green, Irijah, 1st — 408-409-410 
Green, John — 429 
Green, Nahum — 403-410-80 
Green. Seraiah— 408-409-410 
Green. Uzziah — 404-405-410 



Greenhall. Harry — SOS' 
Greenwood, L & Co. — 535 
Gi-eenwood. Samuel — 200 
Greg-orv, Charies .\ugustus — 254- 

124-125-101-123-564 
Gregory, Major General Franklin 

— 252-36-78-92-112-44 6-387-296 

447-448-564 
Gregory, Franklin Edwards — 25S 

-664 
Gregorv, Isaac — 2iii -252-23-30-36 

-78-90-91-106-44S 
Gregory, Isaac rioiman — 254 
Gregory, Frederick W. — 254-255- 
Gregory, John Porter — 254-129 
Gregory, Jonathan — 252 
Gregorv, Stephen — 389 
Gregory, Elisha — 234 
Gris-gs. Kev. Le\eretl— 2;ii 
Guy^ Walter P. — 487 



H 

Hadlev, Charles W. — 246 

Hadley, Edwin W. — 246 

Hale, Alfred Randall — 532 

Haie, Charies Silas — 532 

Hale, Emma Jane — 533-103 

Hale, F. L. & Co.--474 

Hale, Jacob — 531-2 

Hale, John Randall — 532-26-32- 

5-16 
Hale, John Waldron — 531-35 
Hale, Samuel Walker — 532 
Hale, Silas — 531-45 
Hale, Silas, Jr. — 531-506-507-500- 

501-559-532-4 74-472-469 
HaIc, Stephen — 531-45-92 
Hale, Stephen Winn — 532 
Hale, Stephen, Jr. — 532 
Ha e, Samuel B. — ^429 
Hall, Rev. David — 54 
Hall. Harold Farmer — 168 
Halloran, J. F. — 146 
Halse, Rev. W .J. — 71 
Hamilton, Clarence — 190 
Hancock, George L. — 429 
Hancock, John — 1-83-82 
Hancock. Robert T. — 99 
Handy, Milton C. — 440 
Hanks, Dr. Horace Tracy — 20-21- 

93-116 117-455 
Hanson, Elihu — 494 
Hanson, Everard B. — 108-455-474 

-494 
Hapgood's Grant — -1-2 
tiaruing, Aiiineuo — 1j 
Harkness. Pjlijah — 211 
Harkness. Elisha W. — 212 
Hiri-ington, Abraham — 284 
Harrington, Allan — 303-558 
H urington. Caroline Ellen — 528 
Harrington, Daniel — 528 
Harrington, Henry Martyn — 529- 

l(ii-o66 
Harrington, Hiram — 25-31 
Harrington, Dea. X^uther — 19-31- 

127-128-470-472-528 
Harr'ngton. Rnbei-t — "128 
Harris, Dea. Alexander — 195 
taarris, B. D. — 3/1 
Hai-ris, Levi — 92 
Hart, Thomas Norton — 392 
Hartwell, Walter A. — 547 
Hatfield, Rev. B. — 70 
Haven, James — 404-410 
Hayden, James O. — 323 



INDEX 



XI 



Haywood, Charles — 468 

Haywood. D. H. — 268 

Haywood, H. H. — 560 

Hazen, John Vose — 56-101-398 

Hazen, Rev. Norman — 56-99-93- 
212-3T8 

Hazen, Solomon — 56 

Healey, Rev. J. W. — 475 

Heath, C. E. — 508 

Heath, John — 508 

Hedge, Rev. Lemuel — 54 

Hemenway, Silvan us — 22-23-37- 
81-464 

Hemingrway, Joshua — 404-4 05-410 

Hemingway, Thomas — 4 04-410 

Henderson. .J. H. — 4 71 

Henderson, J. J. — 471 
Henry. Capt. William — 204 

Heywood. ."^mos — 92 

Heywood. >nsel — 92 

Heywood. Silas — 23-30-89-91-106- 

335 
Heywood, Silas, Jr. — 92 

Heywood. So'omon — 25-335 

Heywood. Stephen H. — 377 

Heywood. Sidney S. — 417-429-335 

Heywood, Si-'as L. — 441 

Heywood, Sidney — 335 

Heywood, Stephen — 335 

Heyv/ood. Harrv — 335 

Heywood, Walter — 174 

Higarins. Henrv H. — 417-429 

Hicks, Forest A. — 302 

High School Exhibition — 97-98 

Hildretli. Merrick E. — 80 

Hill, (^harles — 197 

Hill, Donald M. — 143-146 

Hill, E'lhraim — 5-86 

Hin, John — 74-415 

Hill. Jonah — 5 

Hill. Silem L. — 429 

Hill, Theodore J. — 441 

Hi'I, Warren M. — 136 

Hill. William H. — 108-136-137 

Hird, Rev. J. W. — 475 

Hitchcock. Prof. Edward — 42-43- 

44-46-48 
Hoar, Senator Georg-e F. — 126 
Hoir. Hon. E. R. — 124 
Hobirt. Hon. Aaron — 560 
Hol)son. Hon. E. E. — 517 
Hodge. Elder Devi — 68-69 
Hit'-hcock. Rev. M. H. — 100 
Holbrook. Jolin D. — 80 
Holden. Emorv — 401 
Holden. Rev. Samuel — 474-475 
HoU & BMss— 193 
Holton, Elihu— 212 
Holman, Chas. Richardson — 390 
Hohnan. Dana Peirks — 294 
Ho 'man. David — 295 
Holman. Dieut. Edward — 295-4l-> 
Holman, Edward, Jr. — 295 
Holman, Georg-e M. — 295 
Holman. Georg-e W. — 294-''9fi-fi4- 

]39-377-'^66 
Ho'man. John — 294-12-24-90 
Holman. Harvey — 234 
Holman. Nelson F. — 294-285 
Ho'man. Noali — 295 
Holman. Seth — 294-45-64-451 
Ho'man, Seth N.— 294-295-377-451 
Holnian, Rev. Sidney — 104-100- 

Holman. Stephen — 92-101 -r'S-.'jsq 

-390-565 " 

Holman, Willard — 294 
Homan, William — 294 



Holman & Harris — 509 
Holmes, .\ugustu.s — 395-399 
Holmes, Rev. H. M. — 475 
Horton, Lewis — 359 
Horton, Russell S. — 79 
Howard, Ansel — 82 
Howard, Rev. B. A. — 478 
Howard, Rev. James J. — 480 
Howard, Dvsander — 444 
Howard, Wm. H. — 429 
Howard, Joel — 2 
Howe, E. D. — 455 
Howe, Gardner — 4 29 
Howe, Henry J. — 441 
Howe. Samuel — 203 
Howe William — 195 
Howes. William — 167 
Hoyt, Georg-e H. — 79 
Hubbard, Daniel — 528 
Hubbard, Thomas — 1 
Hughes, Webwter — 535 
Humphrey, Henry M. — 79 
Humphrey, Rev. James — 54 
Hunnewell. Jonathan — 389 
Hunt, Elisha S. — 164 
Hunt, Samuel — 2 
Hutchins. James H. — SO 
Hutchinson, Benjamin — 17-90 
Hutchinson, Governor — 9 
Hyatt, Almon A. — 25-31-94-560 
Hyde, Edward — 253 
Hyde, Dea. Reuben — 29 2 



Incorporation of the Town — lo- 
ll 
Ingalls, Charles — 547 
Ing-alls, Ebenrzer- — 88 



Jacobs, Abel — 340 

Jacobs, Alonzo W. — 327 

Jacobs. Bela J. — 99-326 

Jacobs, Dr. Chauncy A. — 121-325 

Jacobs. Ernest D. — 327 

Jacobs. Francis — 326 

Jacobs, George D. — 327 

Jacobs. Dr. Horace — 121-325-566 

Jacobs, Ira — 325 

Jacobs, Isaac — 325 

Jacobs, Irving- S. — 327 

Jacobs. John — 68-410-163 

Jacobs, John T. — 327 

Jacobs, Jonathan — 404-405 - 409- 

410 
Jacobs, Joseph — 24-82-92-,204 
Jacobs, Mary — 121-325 
Jacobs, Moses — 325 
Jacobs, NathaTi — 410 
Jacobs, Nathaniel — 324-410 
Jacobs, Rufus M. — 327 
Jacob.s, Rachel B. — 121 
Jacobs. Simeon — 91-92-121-461 
Jacobs, Simeon — 325 
Jacobs. Simeon, Jr. — 325 
Jacobs. Sumner — 325 
Jacobs. Thoma.s — 91-92 
Jacobs, Whitman — 327 
Jacobs, Thomas A. — 326 
Jacobs. Philander — 326 
Jacobs. Elder Whitman — 65-66- 

67-87-324 



XII 



HISTORY OF ROYALSTON 



Jeniiison. Austin — 528 
Jerrel, William — 450 
Johnson, Rev. Wilbur — 57-61 
Johnson, Andrew — 176 
Jewett, H. P. 13.— 370 
Jewett, John P. & Co. — 370 
Jones, Aaron — 6-542-35-474 
Jones, Amos — 541-6-7-24-30 - 91- 

-465 
Jones, Amos — 541 
Jones, Alden — 542 
Jones, Asa — 66-67-100 
Jones, Asa M. — 100 
Jones, Elmore — 542 
Jones, Elnathan — 542 
Jones. Leander W. — 542-488 
Jones, Reuben — 541 
Jones, Silas— 541 -24-3(i-:U -91-32 
Jones, Silas, Jr. — 542 
Jones, Willard — 542 
Jones, Franklin — 104-100 
Jones, Waid — 87 
Jones, Isaac — 87 
Jones & Lehy — 488 
Josselyn, A. K. — 452 



K 



Kaulback, George A. — 264 

Kelton, James — 68 

Kelton, Lovell — 454 

Kemp, Rev. Z. W. — 70 

Kelton, Calvin — ^79 

Kendall, Andrew — 89-91-92 

Kendall, Arthur C. — 142-560 

Kendall, Rev. Charles — 475 

Kendall, Edward — 104 

Kendall, Edward S. — 441 

Kendall, Fred — 553 

Kendall, John — 404-405-410 

Kendall, John — 45-449 

Kendall, Jonathan — 88 

Kendall, Ira Y. — 79 

Kendall, Ozi — 79 ^ 

Kendall, Samuel — 297 '' 

Kendall, Seth — 340 

Kendall, Stephen G. — 454 

Kenney, Daniel — -70 

Kenney, Rev. Isaac — 66-68-457 

Kenney, Folder Moses — 68-457 

Kenney, Elder Silas — 70-71-67- 

78-93 
Ketchum, Arthur G. — 287 
Keys, Rev. N. A. — 93 
Kilburn, Rev. David — 478 
Kerjassoff, Max David — 275 
Kimball, Rev. Henry S. — 486 
Kimball, Wales — 253 
King-, Charles A. — 500 
King, Clarence E. — 429-500 
King, Daniel — 499 
King, George H. — ^441-500 
King, Henrv — 255 
King, Herbert L. — 491-490 
King, J. Herbert — 490-499-511 
King, John — 490-499-510-498-538 
King, John L. — 112-447 
Kingsley, Elisha — 74 
Kingsley, Peleg — 4 60 
Kittredge, Dr. Charles N. — 118 
Knapp, Hiram — 263 
Knight, Ainsis-orth — 478 
Knight, Charles S. — 430 
Knight, Prof. E. N. — 138-140 
Knight, Geo. W. — 430 



Knight, Henry E. — 417-430' 
Knight. W. H. — 99 
Knights, Israel — 540 
Knights, Jason- — 540 
Knowlton, Rev. F. B. — 474 



Lamb, Francis M. — 99 

Last Bear Hunt — 51 

Lawrence, Brook — 41 

Lawrence, Charles G. — 194 

Lawrence, Rev. G. W. — 475 

Lawrence, William — 41 

Lawton, Asa S. — 274 

Leathe, Benjamin — 320-412-371 

Leathe, Benjamin, Jr. — 320-415 

Leathe, Benjamin Franklin — 321 

Leathe. Francis — 320 

Leathe, Herbert H. — 322 

Leathe, John — 320 

Leathe, John F. — 321 

Leathe, John H. — 322 

Leathe, John Walton — 321 

Leathe, Samuel — 320 

Leathe, Walter D. — 321 

Leathe, William M. — 321-371-372 

Leathe, WMlliam H. — 320-321-5-32 

143 
Leathe, Leonard Lorenzo — 105- 

101 
Lee, Abner — 2 

Lee, Hon. Artemas — 132-447-296 
Lee, Miss Bertha — 137-138 
Lee, C. M. Co. — 197 
Lee, J. Howard — 137 
Lee, Rev. Joseph — 54-55-62-65- 

106-459 
Lee & Raymond — 296 
Lee, Mrs. Rachel (Dexter) — 239 
Lee, Capt. Samuei — 128 
Lee, Thomas j. — 36-92 
Lee, Warren I>exter — 239 
Legal Profession — 123 
Lehv, Geoffrey — 480 
Lehy, Geoffrey B. — 102-488-489- 

512-517 
Lehy, Rev. John F. — 102-480-489- 

511-564 
Lehy, Michael F. — 488 
Leland. Rev. J. H. M. — 93-475 
Leonard, W. F. — 99 
Leonard, Willard T. — 221 
Lewis, Alvin W. — 525 
Lewis, Rev. Edward S., D. D. — 

526 
Lewis, Enoch T. — 525-527-441 
Lewis, Hugh — 489 
Lewis, John S. — 525 
Lewis, Rev. Joseph W. — 476-477- 

514-525-526 
Lewis, Joseph W. — 526 
Lewis, Timothy — 476-477-478-514 

-524-540 
Lewis, Rev. Timothy Willard — 

478-525-526-527-102 
Lewis, Whitman Taylor — 525 
Lewis, Hiram — 415 
Lewis, Lemuel — 410 
Lewis, William — 410 
Libraries of Royalston — 106-107 
Linsey, Richard — 477 
Livermore, Jonas — 86 
Livermore, Winthrop — 82 
Locke, Phillip A. & Co. — 392 
Lodge, Senator Henry Cabot — 

155-156 



INDEX 



XIII 



Long, Pond — 41 
Longley, James C. — 556 
Long-lev, Xahum — 509-497-25 
Longlev, W. H. — 536 
Longlev, Timothv M. — 206 
Loom is, W. A. — 146 
Lord, Fred W. — 80 
Lord, Lucien — 80-446 
Lord, Mrs. Lucien — 271 
Lord, William G. — 73-146 
Louter, Frank — 141 
Lovett. James — 193 
Lovewell, Wm. B. — 142-554 
Lowe, Allen — 375 
Lowe, John A. — 375 
Lyman. J. E. — 524 
Lyon, David — 29-88-233 



M 



-38-39-26-109- 



-70-221 
3 



Mackenzie, Colin- 
137-140-418 

Mackenzie, Miss Bessie — 103 

Mackenzie, Mrs. Emeline (White) 
— 109-142-143 

Mackenzie, Harlan — 103 

Mahler, Michael — 430 

Manley, Jesse — 404-410 

Mann, Rev. Cyrus — 55 

Manning, Abel — 532 

Manning, Patrick — 430 

Mansfield, Rev. J. H. — 71 

Marcy, O. Wilder — 477 

Marsh, Benjamin — 448 

Marsh. Chas. Allen — 219 

Marsh, Rev. F.— 478 

Marshall, Elder Thoma-s- 

Martin, Amos — 196 

Martin, Stephen W. — 430 

Marvin, Sumner — 453 

Mather Cotton — 242 

Matthews, Jeremiah — 454-340 

Mason, C. H. — 459 

May, Benjamin — 448 

Maynard, Oren — 542 
Mayne, Charles L. — 277 
Mayne, Joseph Ford — 277 
McDonald, N. — 536 
McClellan, George B. — 166 
McCall, Samuel W. — 153 
McConlev, Dr. — 560 
McCoy, R. J. J. — 478 
McLane. Gov. John — 187 
McManus, Rev. Charles — 479 
McManus, Rev. Patrick — 479 
Medical Profession — 113 
Meehan, Rev. J. J. — 480 
Mellen, James H. — 560 
Mellen, Joel B. — 430 
Mellen, Wm. H. — 80 
Merriam, Albert W. — 101 
Merriam, Rev. Asaph — 70-458 
Merriam, Joseph W. — 270 
Merrill, Rev. C. C. — 475 
Merrill, Rev. J. L. — 475 
Merrill, Rev. William — 478-190 
Metcalf, Charles Hovev — 165 
Metcalf, Charies Rich — 167 
Metcalf, Caleb B. — 101-564 
Metcalf, Miss Edith — 142-338 
Metcalf, Eliab Wight — 168-169- 

564 
Metcalf, Ellas — 87 
Metcalf, Enoch — 92-164 
Metcalf, Enoch B. — 165 
Metcalf, Dea. Enos — 49-72-91 



Metcalf, George Prescott — 163 
Metcalf, Henry Martyn — 168 
Metcalf, Henrv, S. — 164 
Metcalf, Capt. Isaac — 165-6-30-76 

-91-92 
Metcalf, Isaac Nev^^ton — 165 
Metcalf, Isaac Stevens — 165-168- 

564 
Metcalf, Irving Wight — iVO-564 
Metcalf, Jacob — 162-90-92 
Metcalf, Rev. John M. P. — 167 
Metcalf, Joseph Mayo — 169-168 
Metcalf, Jonas Prescott — 163 
Metcalf. Josiah Kidder — 164 
Metcalf, Marius — 167 
Metcalf, Maynard Mayo — 172 
Metcalf, Michael — 162-172 
Metcalf, Rev. Paul Harlon — 168 
Metcalf, Capt. Peletiah — 162-22- 

23-29-30-106-457-464-123 
Metcalf, Dr. Peletiah — 123-162 
Metcalf, Prescott Marius — 163- 

421-430 
Metcalf, Ralph Howes — 168 
Metcalf, Samuel Gregory — 163 
Metcalf, Thomas Nelson — 168 
Metcalf, Wilder Stevens — 167 
Metcalf, Wilmot Vernon — 171 
Metcalf, Keyes Dewitt — 168 
Metcalf, Harlow — 430 
Metcalf, Silas — 415-340 
Metcalf, Prescott — 421-430 
Metcalf, Harlan Peletiah — 163- 

430 
Miles, Danvers — 431 
Miles, George — 431 
Miller, Asa — 375 
Miller, Barzillar — 233 
Miller, Charles Edward — 383 
Miller, George Edward — 376-383 
Miller, George Fletcher — 375-383- 

21-37-93-130-376 
Miller, George North — 383 
Miller, Rev. J. D. — 70 
Minerals — 45-46 
Mirick. Ephraim, Jr. — 276 

Moody, Daniel — 404-410 

Moody, Dwight L. — 208-220 

Moody, John — ^408-409-410 

Moore, Abel — 389 

Moore, Benoni — 141-142-143-1-2 

Moore, Charles — 216 

Moore, EliphaTet^66 

Moore, George — 216 

Moore, James G. — 449 

Moore, J. S. — 26-143-431 

Moore, Henry C. — 431 

Moore, Leonard G. — 449-455 

Moore, Patrick — 431 

Moore, Richard — 510 

Moore, William — 216 

Mosher, B. H. — 508 

Mosher, Harold C. — 507 

Morandi, Francis — 211 

Morandi, Stephen — 211 

Morgan, George W. — 431 

Morey, Simeon — 17 

Morse, David — 65 

Morse, Edmund Russell — 319 

Morse, John Prescott — 319 

Morse, Jenner— 319-400 

Morse, Joseph — 318 

Morse, Julius Nelson — 318 

Morse, Nelson — 315 

Morse, Russell — 318-24-25-31-78- 
82-91-92-415-234-292 

Morse. Russell, Jr. — 319-19-128- 
400 



XIV 



HISTORY OF KOVALSTON 



Morse, Samuel — 317 
Morse, S. A. — 522 
Morse, Leander B. — 79 
Morton, John — 431-410 
Mosman. Albion P. — 338 
Mosman, Chas. A. — 338 
Mosman, Edwin J. — 338 
Moulton, Horace — 476 
Mudfje. Cant. John G. — 84 
Murdock, B. B. — 25-31 
Murdock, Capt. Ephraim — 176 
Murdock, James — 21 S 
Murphv, Rev. Thomas F. — 479 
Muttart, Rev. W. L. — 474 



N 



Naming- the Town — 8 

Nash, George L. — 551 

Nash, John — 431 

Neal, Alfred W. — 27-29-32-146- 

540-549 
Newell, Col. Ebenezer — 412-431 
Newell, Rev. Ebenezer F. — 476 
New Town Hail — iti-20-21 
Newton, Charles H. — 2?7-278-207- 

37-112-128-447-451-453 
Newton, Charles M. — 278 
Newton, Ebenezer Perkins — 277 
Newton, Edward Elmer — 277-279- 
^^ewton, Col. Elmer — 276-277-25- 

34-35-61-78-91-415 
Newton. George — 103-100 
Newton, George — 276 
Newton, George Erigham — 101- 

103-104 
Newton. George Brigham — 279- 

280 
Newton, Hezekiah — 276-279-82- 

275 
Newton, Horatio — 276 
Newton, Horatio Danforth — 276- 

93-99 
Newton,, Horatio Standish — 277 
Newton. Natlian Brigham — 275- 

24-106-103-412-415 
Newton. Phinehas — 276 
Newton, Phinehas S. — 108-277-146 

-278-37-38-61-80-108-26-32-35- 

36-361-451-137-140-143 
Newton, Rich.'.rd — 275 
Newton, Willard — 27 6-91-406-415 
Newton, Willard Hazen — 276-94- 

142-455 
Newton, Mrs. Stella V. — 141-377 
Newton, Henry R. — 250 
Newton, Leon R. — 250 
Newton, Ernest A. — 250 
Nichols, Rev. Ammi — 225-128 
Nichols, Daniel — 234 
Nichols, Elijah — 224 
Nichols, Frederic C. — 224-136- 

14 2-143-149-155-394-395-566 
Nichols, Henrv — 223-6-31-448-3 27 

-461 
Nichols, Isaac — 208-223-225-405- 

408-409-410 
Nichols, Isaac. Jr. — 225-6-15-25- 

26-32-37-94-394-395-410-412 
Nichols, Joseph Towne — 224-25- 

26-32-37-94-394-395 
Nichols, Leonard — 224-395-566 
Nichols, William — 223-225-6-448 
Nichols, Moses — 91-281 
Nichols, John^409-410 
Nichols, Robert — 265-266 



Nitz, William — 432 
Norcross, Andrew D. — 432 
Norcross, Chauncy W. — 432-445 
Norcross, Joseph — 91-92 
Norris, Rev. James — 479 
Norton, John — 23-24-30-36-76-7! 

-88-409-392-279 
Norton, Rev. John F. — 50 
Norton, Thomas — 129-415 
Nourse, Joel — 448-449 
Nourse, William — 529 
Nutting, William H. — 300 



o 



O'Brien, Patrick — 479 
O'Conner, Rev. T. C. — 480 
OM Elm — 45 

Old Home Day of 1904 — 138-140 
Old Home Day of 1910 — 140-141 
Oliver, James — 80 
Oliver, James 2d — 441 
( ) sen. Gustaff — 492 
One Hundred and Fiftieth Anni- 
versary — 142 
Orr, Rev. William — 479 
Osborn, Franklin A. — 432 
Osborn, A. K. — 284 
Osborn. John — 23 
Osgood, Nathan B. — 432 
Otis, James — -1 

Overseers of the Poor — 37-38 
Owen, Daniel — 5 



Packer, M. A. — 488 

Paige, Hon. Calvin D. — 154 

Paine, Charles G. G. — 333-97-98- 

101 
Paine, Elkanah, Jr. — 432 
Paine, Ellen Almira — 333 
Paine, Mary Elizabeth — 333 
Paine, Sarah Leonard — 333 
Paine, Shebna — 333 
Palmer, Asa A. — 432 
Palmer, Benjamin R. — 391 
Parker, Alonzo S. — 323 
Parker, Mrs. C. C. — 139 
Parker, Hon. Herbert — 137 
Parker, E. L. — 97-98 
Parker, Capt. Jonas — 6 
Parker, Josiah — 6-286 
Parker, White & Co. — 271 
Parkhurst. Dr. John — 122 
Parmelee, Rev. J. H. — 70 
Parmenter, J. Sumner — 79 
Parmenter & Tower — 491 
Parsons. William T. — 344 
Partridge, Edward M. — 377 
Partridge, Harlan P. — 441 
Partridge, Hervey — 539 
Partridge. Herm'an M. — 140-376- 

441-433-455 
Partridge, J. Milton — 377 
Partridge, L. W. — 24-31-550 
Parti-idge. Maynard — 128-377-61 
Patch, Edwin — 539 
Peabody, Chandler — 124-415 
Pearson, Samuel A. — 124 
Peck, Asahel — 289-563-100-123- 

184-563-385 
Peck, Benjamin — 287 



INDEX 



XV 



Peck. Benoni — 286-415-24-25-30- 

31-49-78-370-92-129-4 54-82 
Peck. Calista — 287 
Peck. Calvin — 74-460 
Peck, Daniel — 283 
Peck. Diniel — 283 
Peck. Eliphalet — 287 
Peck, Fred B.— 287 
Peck. Hamilton Sullivan — 285-564 

-101-123-139-140-141-564 
Peck, Henry — 287-99 
Peck, Henry Eddie — 287 
Peck, John — 283-23-29 
Peck, John Family — 288 
Jack, John — 288 
Peck. John — 289-370 
Peck, James W. — 287 
Peck, Joseph — 283 
Peck, Levi — 287 
Peck, Lyman — 284 
Peck, Nahum — 289-123-384 
Peck, Nathaniel- --'88 
Peck, Phillip — 287 
Peck, Roy Hamilton — 285 
Peck, Sjlomon Family — 286 
Peck, Solomon — 286 
Peck, Solomon 2d— 74 
Peck, Squire — 2o8 -123-384-256 
Peck, Sullivan — 284 
Peck, Wayland — 284 
Peck. Cicero Goddard — 124 
Peck. Chauncy — 415 
Peck, Hiram — 410 
Peck, Joshua — 409-410 
Peck, Nelson F. — 433 
Peckham, John — 553 
Peckham, John Smith — 482 
Peckham. Rev. Samuel H. — 481- 

475-472 
i-^ecknam, Samuel H., Jr. — 441-482 
Peckhim, William Clark — 101- 

442-481-564 
Perkins Family — 272 
Perking, Alfred Fearson — 274 
Perkins, Rev. Dr. Ariel E. P. — 273 

-21-101-128-:29-564 
Perkins, Benjamin H. — 275 
Perkins, Charles Albert — 274 
Perkins. Daniel Choate — 274-124- 

102-122 
Perkins, David — 272 
Perkins, Rev. Ebenezer — 272-55- 

476-92-122-124-362 
Perkins, Edward — 273 
Perkins, Franklin Parish — 274 
Perkins, Hannah Amelia — 274 
Perkins, Henry Poor — 273 
Perkins, Herbert Boardman — 273 
Perkins, Jose;;h Lee — 274-19-20- 

31-127-128-362 
Perkins, Josephine L. — 275 
Perkins. Julia A. — 275 
Perkins, Benjamm Conant — 124- 

128-132-564-274-101-123 
Perkins, Joseph Frederick — 101 
Perkins, Mr. M. M. — 93-94 
Perreault. J. D. — 510 
Perry. Curtis — 504 
Perry, Micha — 87 
Perry, Thaddeu.s — 8 7 
Perry, Thomas — 89 
Perley, L. H. — 558 
Perry. Benjamin — 409-410-87 
Perry. David — 117 

Petition to President of United 

State — 75 
Peters. Rev. Richard — 475 



Pettv, Joseph — 1-2 

Pheips. Daniel, W. — 280 

Phipps, Rev, Geo. C. — 359 

Phillips, James, Jr. — 373-469 

Petition to General Court — 76-77 

Phillips, Samuel, Esq. — 83 

Pierce, Alvin — 504 

Pierce, Arthur F. — 433 

Pierce, Charle.s — 269-410 

Pierce, Charlotte — 268 

Pierce, Columbus — 266 

Pierce, Delia M. — 271 

Pierce, Ebenezer — 25-200-243-82- 

87 
Pierce, Edwin F. — 270-271 
Pierce, Eliphalet — 266 
Pierce, Emma L. — lo,i-268-94 
Pierce, Gad — 265 
Pierce, Capt. Gad — 265-461 
Pierce, George — 266-269 
Pierce, George — 296-19-31-35-82- 

446 
Pierce, George Everett — 269-270- 

-444-32-37-106-14 3-450-508 
Pierce, Henry Leander — 267 
Pierce, Horace— 266-267-188 
Pierce, James — 266-415 
Pierce, James W. — 268 
Pierce, John — 265-268 
Pierce, Jonas — 266-268 
Pierce. Jonas Blake — 268 
Pierce, Jonathan — 265-266-30-31- 

90-91-92-106-104-454-461 
Pierce, Jonathan Sibley — 266 
Pierce, Joseph — 266-415 
Pierce, Lieut. Junius — 267 
Pierce, Junius E. — 267 
Pierce, Leonard T. — 272 
Pierce, Lyman Elliott — 270 
Pierce, MiiO Horace — 267 
Pierce, Paul — 266 
Pierce, Royal — 266 
Pierce, Silas — 266-415 
Pierce, Sumner — 266 
Pierce, Warren A. — 271 
Pierce, Webster E. — 272 
Pierce. William — 2 65-266-268-2 4- 

53-91-92 
Pierce, M'^illiam — 266 
Pierce, Willard — 269 
Pierce, Zebulon — 266-15 
Pierponts, Grant — 1-2 
Pike, Rev. Clarence — 60-144 
Pike. Daniel — 404-405-410 
Pike. E. B. — 60 
Pilisbury, Enoch H. — 105 
Piper, C. J. — 25 
Piper, Elihu — 452-453 
Piper, George H. — 442 
Piper, Isaac — 90-91 
Piper, James S. — 442 
Pi.jer, Josiah, Jr. — 265 
Piper, Lysander B. — 442 
Pioneer Engine Co. — 560 
Political — 75 
Poland, Wheeler — 276 
Pond, Albert D. — 263 
Pomeroy. Hiram S. — 219 
Pond. Rev. Milton G. — 57 
Poor. Henry — 407-410 
Pope. Charles — 433 
Porter. Ernest F. — 558-95 
Porter. Rev. James — 478 
Post Offices — 111-112-509 
Potter, Benjamin F. — 433 
Potter, Rev. T. c. — 478-93 
Powers. James— 510 
Pratt, Alden — 336 
Pratt, Alfred — 336 



XVI 



HISTORY OF ROVALSTON 



Pratt, Daniel — 336 
Pratt, Eug-ene O. — 336 
Pratt, George — 336 
Pratt, George M. — 336 
Pratt, Gilbert — 336 
Pratt, Jabez — 336 
Pratt, J. Golan — 336 
Pratt, Joel — 336 
Pratt, John — 336 
Pratt. Joseph Warren— 336 
Pratt, Reuben — 444 
Preble, Jedediah — 403 
Prendergast, Rev. James — 479 
Pre.scott, Henri M. — 263 
Prescott, John — 415 
Prescott, Peter — 374 
Price, Rev. M. — 478 
Prie.st's Brook — 40 
Priest, Francis Dana — 384 
Priest's Grant — 1-2 
Priest, Joseph — 40-461 
Priest, Nancy — 354-355-564 
Progressive Movement — 82 
Proprietors — ^1-3 
Prouty, Charles S. — 391 
Prouty, Isaac — 91-328 
Purcell, Rev. Thomas E.- 
Putnam, Cornelius — 15 
Putnam, Rev. John M. — 167 
Putnam. Reuben — 538 
Putney, Charles E. — 100 



-538 



Q 



Quinlan, Cornelius — 225 



R 

Rand, Col. John — 409 

Rawson, Lemuel H. — 196 

Rankin, Noah — 284 

Ravmond, Alfred Dwight — 297- 

444-25-26-31-32-35-94-109-110- 

455 
Ravmond, Alfred Joseph — 298-143 
Ravmond, Artemas — 298-203 
Ravmond, Carrie Willis — 298-102 
Ravmond, Franklin H. — 298 
Ravmond, George A. — 298-433 
Raymond, Joseph — 296-416-20-21- 

25-31-34-35-37t61-78 -82 - 108 - 

128-446 
Raymond, Joseph Estabrook — 297 

-129 
Raymond. Mary Elizabeth — 298- 

101-102 
Raymond, William — 296-89 
Raymond, William C. — 298 
Raymond, William — 296 
Raymond, Wm. Henry Harrison 

— 297 
Raymond, George S. — 444 
Raymond, James — 129 
Raymond, Sullivan — 449 
Raymond, Stephen — 92 
Raymond, D. — 98 
Raymond, Laurence J. — -298 
Reed, Arba — 460 
Read, E .M. — 136 
Red Letter Days — 127 
Reed, Clement O. — 260-264 
Reed, Charles W. — 378-455 
Reed, Cyrus B. — 25-31-128-378- 

269 



Reed, Cyrus P. — 378 

Reed, Nathan — 2-90-92 

Reed, William — 270 

Representatives — 78-79-80 

Rescue Engine Co. — 560 

Reynolds, F. H. C. — 47-145 

Revnolds, Rev. Thomas — 479 

Rice, Aaron — 433 

Rice, Abner — 258 

Rice, Rev. C. F. — 121 

Rice, Nelson W. — 433 

Rice, Rev. Walter — 475-513-574- 

575 
Rice, Homer T. — 542-474 
Rich, Dana — 460 
Rich, Benjamin W. — 25-26-31-32- 

80-534-514-504-455 
Rich, B. Warren — 26-37-535-522 
Rich, Charles — 165 
Rich, Charles Witt — 535 
Rich, Edmund — 533 
Rich, Elisha — 66-67-460 
Rich. Frederick — 536 
Rich, George Thatcher — 536-504 
Rich, Harrison — 534 
Rich, Jeremiah Atkins — 25-26-31- 
32-79-109-110-534-560-504-474 
Rich, Jeremiah Edward — 535-560- 

142 
Rich, John Elliot — 534 
Rich, Joshua — 442 
Rich, Lewis Damon — 534 
Rich, Nathaniel — 15 
Rich, Richard — 533 
Rich, Thatcher — 533 
Rich, Thatcher, Jr. — 534 
Rich. Thatcher— 536 
Rich, Thomas Walter — 534 
Rich, Zacheus — 533 
Richards, George H. — 323 
Richards, Mrs. Jennie — 136-144 
Richards, Joseph — 1 
Richards, Joseph — 560 
Richards, Mrs. Leota — 136-142 
Richards, Perley — 146 

Richardson, Arthur G. — 389 ,>,-,i> 
Richardson, Abiel — 17-410" ^^^ 
Richardson, Abijah — 250-86- 404- 

407-411 
Richardson, Abijah — 250-86-404- 

407-411 
Richardson, Abijah, Jr. — 250 
Richardson, Andrew Jackson — 

251-442 
Richardson, Charles E. — 96-95- 

142-143-456 
Richardson, Eliphalet — 250-86-91 

-409-411 
Richardson, Ephraim W. — 250 
Richardson Familv — 248 
Richardson, Franklin — 250-31-447 

454-207 
Richardson, Hon. George Carter 

— 251-128-132-448-563-226-253- 

387- 388-389 
Richardson, Jefferson — 251 - 99 - 

442 
Richardson, John — 248 
Richardson, Luther — 249 
Richardson, Lysander — 249 
Richardson, Samuel — 249 
Richardson, Stephen — 249-248-24- 

25-30-31-91-92-411-415 
Richardson, Timothy — 248-7-14- 

15-16-22-23-151 
Richardson, Timothy, Jr. — 249-7 



INDEX 



XVII 



Richardson, Dr. Thomas — 251-115 

24-91-387 
Richardson, Dr. Maurice — 95-137 
Richardson. Ephraim — 102 
Richardson, Nathaniel — 79-536 
Richardson, C. Predericlc — 80-222 
Richardson, William — 409-411 
Richardson, George O. — 433 
Richardson, Leander — 442 
Richardson, Dr. Henry A. — 389 
Richmond, A. J. — 509 
Richmond, E. J. — 509 
Richmond, Forest E. — 508-509 
Ripley, Dwight — 378 
Ripley, Mrs. Emily B. — 21-35-61 
Ripley William D. — 20-61-128-378 
Roads Laid Out — 16 
Robbins, John — 433 
Robbins, J. A. — 247 
Rogers, Eliphalet — 286 
Rog-ers, Rev. P. S. — 478 
Rogers, James — 219 
Roers, Rev. John — 286 

Rogers, Moses — 340 

Rogers, Thomas — 415 

Root, Azariah Smith — 167 

Root, Francis Metcalf — 167 

Royal, Hon. Isaac — 1-2-8-9-52-85 

Royal House — 9-10 

Royalston Cotton & Woolen Man- 
ufacturing Co. — 468 

Royalston Farmers' Club — 108 

Royalston, Festival — 21 

Royalston, Leg — 3-12-13 

Rugg, George — 442 

Russell, Albert F. — 368 

Russell, Prof. A. C. — 556 

Russell, Charles R. — 368 

Russell, Dulcenia M. — 368 

Russell. George W. — 434 

Russell, Henry — 434 

Russell. Harrv H. — 368 

Ryan, John — 259 



Sabbath Noon House — 17 

Safford, Charles R. — 496-511 

Safford, Henry A. — 496 

Safford, Henry W. — 496 

Safford. Loyal R. — 496 

Safford, Ruel Roby — 32-94-45'- 

453-495-474 
Safford, Winthrop M. — 496 
Sale of Royalston Lands — 3 
Sampson, Charles — 365 
Sampson, Henry K. — 434 
Sanborn, Asa J. — 443 
Sargent, E. D. — 146-148 
Sault, Carl E. — 293 
Saunders, William — 90 
Sawyer, Addison M. — 450 
Sawyer, Joseph — 450 
Sawyer, Sylvanus — 450 
Sawyer, W. P. — 268 
Scenery — 40 
School Committee from 1845 — 93- 

94-95 
School Districts — ^87-88-89 
Scott. Rev. G. R. ^{V. — 57 
School Houses — 90 
Seabury, Rev. Edwin— 9.?-47.i 
Seaton, Dr. Marshall — 120 
Selectmen — 2 2 -23 -24 -25-'' 6- ''7 
Senators — 81 



Shaw. Rev. Judson Wade — 57-58 
Sheldon, Moses — 141 
Shepard, Eliot P. — 125 
Shepard, William H. — 189 
Shepardson, Daniel — 215 
Shepardson, Daniel — 216 
Shepardson, Rev. Daniel — 216- 

218-72-91-102-129-564 
Shepardson, Daniel — 220 
Shepardson, Daniel — 222 
Shepardson, David Cook — 216 
Shepardson, David Cook— -216-220 
Shepardson, Edmund C. — 222-223- 

80 
Shepardson, Eri — 216-222-454 
Shepardson, Francis Wayland — 

220 

Shepardson, Frank L. — 217 
Shepardson, Isaac — 216 
Shepardson, John — 216-91 
Shepardson, Rev. John — 216-220- 
564 

Shepardson, John — 222-434-146 
Shepardson, Jonathan — 216 
Shepardson, Joseph Henrv — 217- 

218-102 
Shepardson, Rev. L. P. — 70 
Shepardson, Lucius Franklin — • 

217 
Shepardson, Luke B. — 223-71-28- 
26-32-71-108-141-142-143-146- 

455-459 

Shepardson, Nathaniel — 215 
Shepardson, Quincy Adams — 217- 
443 

Shepardson, George Defrees — 220 
Shepardson, John Ernest — 220 
Shejjardson, Joseph — 444 
Shepardson, John — 146 
Shepardson, Carl — 102-29 
Shelton, William — 243 
Sherwin. Addison — 539 
Sherwin/ Arba— 538-24-31-78-82- 
128 

Sherwin, Arba — 538 
Sherwin, Arthur H. — 539 
Sherwin. Frederic Hervev — 539- 

474-475 
Sherwin, George Henry — 539 
Sherwin. George Percival — 538 
Sherwin, J. C. W. T. M. — 434 
Sherwin, Lyman — 504 
Sherwin, Melancthon — 539 
Sherwin, William W. — 434 
Sherwin, Robert A. — 474-560-539 
Sherwin. L-man Harrington — 540 
Sherwood, M. W. — 26-95-461 
Shipman. Rev. J. N. — 71 
Shirley. Governor — 2 
Sibley, Joel H. — 547 
Sibley. Joel — 247 

Sibley. Jonathan — 6-22-37-78-89- 
90-106-409-411 

Sibley, William — 247 

Siegrist, John — 434 

Simonds, Charles — 146 

Simonds, Elder — 73 

Slate, John — 550 

Slocum, Rev. H. T. — 71 

Slocum, W. F. — 70 

Small. Alberto W. — 100 

Smalley, D. A. — 392-384 

Smart, Albert — 554 

Smart, Charles — 554 



XVIII 



HSTOKV OF ROY ALSTON 



Smart, James Harry — 554 

Smart, James ,J. — 554 

Smart, William — 554 

Smith, Amanda (Bemis) — 3bo 

Smith, Augustus Peck^ — 287 

Smith, Rev. B. M. — 478 

Smith, Charles- A. — 162 

Smith, Dr. Chiron W. — 206 

Smith, George W.— 223 

Smith, Herbert 0.-^142-449 

Smith. James B. — 418-434 

Smith, Joseph — 250 

Smith, Rev. J. T.— 70 

Smith, Dr. Leander — 122-102 

Smith, L. F. — 338 

Smith, Sidney P.— 80 

Smith, Simon — 550 

Smith, William W. — 438 

Soule, Bishop — 526 

Sparhawk, Col. Nathan — 40 < -408 

Spaulding, Rev. C. H. — 72 

Speare, Gregory & Co. — 254 

Spitz, R. J. — 556 

Spofford, Henry A. — 163 

Spooner, Alden — 46 

Sprague, Frederick H. — 535 

Sprag'ue, William H. — 435 

Starrett, L. S.— 222-494 

Starrett, L. S. Co.— 197 

Statuette of the Angel Gabriel — 

63-64 
Stearns, Capt. Ephraim — 400 
Stebbins, Timothy — 554 
Steiner, Henry — 438 
Stevens, Isaac — 79 
Stewart, Alexander — 435 
Stewart, Charles — 508 
Stewart, Charles H. — 435 
Stewart, Eri S.— 95-96-102-142- 

143-146-456 
Stewart, John — 438 
Stewart. Luther E.— 71,94-95-223- 

455 
Stimson. Charles A. — 38-142-143- 

146-456 
Stockwell, Abraham — 53 
Stockwell, Anan — 548 
Stock well, Ammi — 4 67-468-547 
Stockwell, Caleb N.— 549-93-94- 

444 
Stockwell, Chester Twitchell— 

4 7 2-473-546-484-483-5 64 
Stockwell, Daniel (3) — 545 
Stockwell, Daniel (4) — 545 
Stockwell, Edmund — 25-31-35-128 

-453 
Stockwell, 
Stockwell, 
Stockwell, 

Stockwell, Edward S. — 547 
Stockwell, Franklin B. — 547 
Stockwell, Freeman — 467-547-477 

-478 
Stockwell, Francis B. — 546 
Stockwell, George Henry — 547 
Stockwell, George — 547 
Stockwell, Isaac — 547-415 
Stockwell, James Frederic — 547 
Stockwell, John, Jr. — 545 
Stockwell, Capt. John — 545 
Stockwell, Jonathan — 467-468-415 
Stockwell, Jonathan — 545 
Stocwkell, Joseph — 545-24-415- 

233 
Stockwell, Joseph — 545-546 
Stockwell, Joseph H. — 547-404- 

146 



Edwin — 548 
Elmon — 548 
Emmons — 473-545-54 6- 



Stockwell. John Wood — 546-36- 

235 
Stockwell, Luke — 546 
Stockwell, Moses — 545 
Stockwell. Myron E. — 33-547-142 
Stockwell, Reuben — 547-415-92 
Stockwell, Simeon — 547-415-91 
Stockwell, Simeon, Jr. — 548 
Stockwell, Sylvester — 546 
Stockwell, Tarrant — 545-415 
Stockwell, Walter A. — 547 
Stockwell, Warren U. — 547 
Stockwell. William — 544 
Stockwell, Winfield S. — 546-542 
Stockwell, Thaddeus— 41)7-411 
Stockwell, John— 409-411 
Stockwell, John W. — 235 
Stockwell, Joel — 409-411 
Stock well. Levi — 111 
Stockwell, Miss Cora E. — 136-137 

140 
Stockwell, Judah — 92 
Stockwell, F. D. — 536 
Stone, Clarence E. — 323 
Stone, Edward Lyman — 323 
Stone, Rev. B. G. — 475 
Stone, Rev. J. P. — 475 
Stone. Jonathan — 322 
Stone, Luther — 302 
Stone, Lvman — 5-25-31-72-93-94- 

246-322-323-449 
Stone. Zenas — 91-92 
Storrs, Samuel G. — 99 
Storv, Arthur B.— 549 
Stow, Marshall V. — 268 
Stratton, Rev. P. K. — 478 
Stratton, Rufus — 115 
Stratton, James — 113 
Streeter, Adarn — 454 
Streeter, Naphtali — 66 
Streeter, Sebastian — 370 
Strong, Caleb — 83 
Studer, Joseph — 435 
Sturtevant, B. F. — 396 
Sullivan, Hon. James — 83 
Sumner, Charles — 296 
Sweenev. Daniel — 435 
Sweetzer, Phillip — 78-88 
Sweetzer, Phillips — 120 
Sweetzer, Samuel — 226 
Sweetzer, William — 266 
Swan, Dr. Ebenezer — 209 
Swift, Francis H. — 435 
Swift, Rev. John — 54 



Taft, Daniel — 2 

Taft, David — 91-465 

Taft, Joel — 2-90 

Tandy, C. Eugene — 547 

Tandv, Charles F. — 344 

Tandy, Eddy C. — 34 4 

Tandv. Rev. Lorenzo — 344-70-:»3- 
454 

Tandv, Nathan S. — 344-435-454 

Tandy, William W. — 344-554 

Tavlor, Addison — 340 

Tavlor, C. R. — 55 6 

Taylor, Flev. O. — 71 

Temple. Lady — 1 

Temple, Luke — 555 

Tenney, Charles E. — 435 

Thatcher, Warren — 435 

Thayer, Sidney — 323 

Third Meeting House of Congre- 
gational Church — 61 



INDEX 



XIX 



Third Baptist Meeting House — 

71-72 
Thomas Bradford — 535 
Thompson, James — 407-411 
Thompson. Jonas — 23-88-407-411 
Thompson, Orrin — 34-453 
Thompson, Robert — 24-82-91 
Thompson, Warren — 554 
Thurston, Benjamin — 74 
Thurston, Levi — 24-90-465 
Tilson, Rev. — 70 
Tingley, Samuel — 215 
Titu.s, I.eno.x— 407-411 
Tonkin, Elder Henry — 70 
Tower, Rev. Francis E. — 222 
Town Clerks — 36-37 
Town Government — 22 
Town Meeting's — 14 
Town Meetings, First — 14 
Town Meetings, Early — 15 
Town, Moses — 541 
Town I'reasurer.s — 91 
Town, William — ^327-545-451 
Town, William — 5-29-37-53-451 
Townsend, Harlan P. — 99 
Townsend, James — 435 
Trustees of Public Library — 109- 

110 
Tucker, George W. — 303 
Tully River — 41 
Turner, Andrew W. — 4 43 
Turner. Ephraim — 513 
Turner. Jerathmural — 498 
Turner, Miss M. — 98 
Turner, Jonas M. — 25-31-550-490- 

474 
Turner, John — 478-223 
Turner, Marden Hartwell — 499 
Turpin, Rev. Edward — 4 79 
Turpin. Rev. Henry — 479 
Twitchell, Eugene G. — 32-33 
Twitchell — Elbridge — 54 6-47 4 
Twitchell, Chester — 546 
Twitchell, Seth — 546 
Twitchell, Ginery — 462 
Twitchell, Francis — 468 
Tyler, Charles H. — 380 
Tyler, Ernest Warren — 80 
Tyler, P. C. — 379 
Tyler, Arthur F. — 263 



U ■ 

Upham, Joshua M. — 555 
Upham, Daniel W. — 555 
Upham, Arthur Aquila— 10.W7!)- 

397 
Upham, Benjamin W. — 7-378-397- 

250-235 
Upham, Charles M.^^443 
Upham & Day — 471 
Upham, Elmer Benjamin — 379- 

Upham, John — 378 

L phani, John M.— 128-o00-474-4fi9 

Upham, Lorenzo — 443 

Upham, Otis K.— 436 

Upton, Rev. Augustus G. — 171 



Valuation — 34-35-36 
Vanderbilt, Wm. H. — 125 
Van Patten. Frederick — 234 



Vinton. Rev. Porter M. — 478 
Vose, Edwin O. — 436 
Vose, W. N. — 8 2 
Vose, William H. — 513-514 
Vote for Governor — 83 
Vote for President — 83 



w 



Walker 
Walker 
Walker 
Walker 



204 



Wait, Joseph — 404-405-407-411 
Wait, Josiah — 412-467 
Wait. Nathaniel — 411 
Waite, Benjamin — 22-29 
Waite, Josiah — 540 
Wakefield, Arrington Clay — S58 
W^akefield, Solomon — 2'62 
Waldron, Col. John — 531 
Walker, Aleck — 205 
Walker, Asa — 204-90-92-415 
Walker, Calvin — 209-74 
Walker, Charles Sumner — 207 
Walker, Clarence J. — 205-206 
Walker, Daniel — 196 

Edward Everett — 207 
Elijah — 209-5-87 
George E. — 205 
Herbert Thomas — 205- 
Walker, James — 209-74 
Walker, John Bigelow — 208-415- 

444 
Walker, John Bigelow, Jr. — 208 
Walker, Jonah — 209-74 
Walker, Dea. Joseph — 205-25-26- 

31-32-37-79-94-447-436-455 
Walker, Lyman — 209-99 
Walker, Moses — 208-45-87-91-411 
Walker, Obadiah — ^204-5 
Walker, Obadiah — 206-31-37-112- 

447-492-250 
Walker, Lieut. Obadiah- 
Walker. R. J. — 94 
Walker. Reuben — 209 
Walker. Rebeccah Metcalf — 208 
Walker. Thomas — 203 
Walker, Thomas, Jr. — 203 
Walker, T. B. — 232 
Walker, Willard — 209 
Walker, William — 209 
Walker, William N. — 204 
Walker, Moses 2d — 411 
Walker, Marcus A. — 436 
Walton, John — 172 
Walsh. Rev. Robert — 479 
Ward. (General Artemas — '>'.i4 
Ward, Jabez — 554 
Ward, W. Scott — 100 
Wanamaker. Wm. H.. Jr.— 
Warner, Alanson — 436 
Warner, E. T. — 25-31 
Warren. Daniel — 88 
Warren, Emerson — 447 
W'arren, Joseph — 402 
Waste, Ebenezer — '22 
Watts, Samuel — 1 
Watruss, Oliver — 253 
Waugh, Bishop — 526 
Weber, John — 436 
Webster, Alexander — 478 
Webster, Daniel — 503 
Webster, Lucien — 433 
Weeks, Caleb — 523 
Weeks, Fred D. — 491 
Weeks, F. & Co. — 198 
Wellington, Jonathan — 41: 



241 



XX 



HISTORY OF ROY ALSTON 



Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheeler 

Wheelei 

Wheeler 

Wheele 

Wheelei 

Wheeler 

Wheelei 

Wheelei 

Wheelei 

Wheelei 

Wheelei 



Wellman, L,. M. — 527 

Wells, Dr. Henry — 114 

Whaland, Albert — 71 

Wheeler, Capt. Adam — 407 
Aaron — 551 
Amos — 407 
Amos 1st— 409-411 
Amos 2d — 411 
Amos 3d — 411 
Arthur P. — 553 
Benjamin — 551 
Benjamin S. — 553 
Charles M. — 553 
Clarence E. — 553 
Daniel — 551 
Darwin F. — 454 
David — 549 
Elmer Jeremiah — 553 
Enez E. — 550 
Everett Roswell — 553 
Ezra D.— 550-443 
Family — 549 
Frank — 553 
Frank B. — 552-445 
George Nelson — 551-436 
Geor;?e M.— 208 
Harry — 553 
Henrv R. — 553 
James Elliot — 553 
Jeremiah Bishop — 552 
Jesse Forristall — 550- 
25-31-35 

Wheeler, Joseph — 551 

Wheeler, Col. Josiah — 549-415-528 

Wheeler, Josiah Wait — 550 

Wheeler, Julius R. — 553 

Wheeler, Rev. L. — 70 

Wheeler, Leonard — 551-37-378- 
469 

Wheeler, Lester Elmon — 553 

Wheeler, Levi — 549 

Wheeler, Levi Whitney — 552 

Wheeler, Lord Nelson — 551-103- 
101 

Wheeler, Lyman S. — 550-436 

W^heeler, Mason — 551 

Wheeler, Mason — 552 

Wheeler. Lieut. Nathan — 549-6-53 
405-408-409-411 

Wheeler, Paul— 549-91 

Wheeler, Ralph Anson — 553 

Wheeler, Robert A. — 553 

Wheeler, Rufus B. P. — 550-443 

Wheeler. Russell — 551-552 
Capt. Russell — 552 
Russell, Jr. — 552 
Russell — 552-91-454-462 

.. ..^^.^., Samuel — 553 

Wheeler, Warren L. — 551-437 

Wheeler, Nathaniel — 86-87 

Whee'er. S. Weston — 224 

Wheeler, Seth — 86-87 

Wheeler, Rev. L. — 70 

Wheeler, Nathan, Jr. — 404-408- 
405-409-411 

Wheeler, Watson — 95 

Wheeler, J. M. — 455 

Whidden, Charles R. — 218 

AVhipple, Elkanah — 266 

Whipple, Nancy — 214 

Whipple, Rev. Reuben — 513 

WMiipple, Silas — 93 

Whitcomb, Mark — 287 

White, Alanson — 92 

White, Adriel — 25-31-51-93 

White, Adriel C. — 93-143-244-437 

White, Asaph M. — 25-26-31-32-93- 
94-141-244-260-437 



W^heeler, 
Wheeler, 
Wheeler. 
Wheelei 



White, Elisha — 242 

Wheeler, Erastus B. — 242 

White, Dr. John — 391 

White, Philetus Davis — 243 

White, Rollin N. — 437 

White, Rollin O. — 244-245 

White, M. W. — 26-36-141-145-456 

White, S. — 12 

White, Stephen P. — 437 

White, Thomas — 89 

White, Wellington— 128-143-146- 

243-444 
White, Willard W. — 455 
Whitney, Rev. Aaron— 54 
Whitney, Alfred H. — 386-396 
Whitney, Amasa — 246 
Whitney, Amos — 92-373 
Whitnev, Chandler — 444 
Whitney, David E. — 212 
Whitnev, Ebenezer — 328 
Whitney, Edward — 540 
Whitnev, Elmer — 141 
Whitney, Ephraim — 90-91-250 
Whitnev, Col. George — 25-34-35- 

36-61-74-79-80-128-139-373-398 
-446-45 2-469-470-4 75-515-563 
Whitney, George E.— 143-373-393- 

394-469-475 
Whitney, John — 276 
Whitnev, Lemuel — 91 
Whitney, George, "Woolen Mill — 

484 
Whitnev, Baxter D .& Son — 287 
Whittier, John — 482 
Whitmore, Abijah — 444 
Whitmore, Arren — 540 
Whitmore & Bruce — 470 
Whitmore, Capt. Enoch — 91-412- 

540-514 
Whitmore, John — 34 
Whitmore. John — 407-411-541-453 

-454 
Whitmore, Capt. John — 541-534 
Whitmore, John, Jr. — 411 
Whitmore, Joseph — 540 
Whitmore, Isaac — 540 
Wilcox, Calvin H. — 142-455 
Wilder, George — 492 
Wilder, Joseph, Jr. — 1 
Wilder, Josiah W. — 301 
Wiley. Col. D. D.— 382 
Wilkey, J. F. — 508 
Wilkins, Newhall H. — 438 
Willev, Charles A. — 275 
Willard, Joshua — 11-14-15 
Williams, Rev. C. B. — 71-140 
Williams, Joseph — 438 
AVillis. C. B. — 97 
Willis, Dr. Isaac P.— 115-116-93 
Wilson, Arnold — 532 
Wilson, Dr. A. L. — 387 
Wilson, Charles A. — 444 
Wilson, George W. — 437 
Wilson, J. Ormond — 386-387-101- 

563 
Wilson, James — 387-246-245 
Wilson, Rev. Jarvis — 478 
Wilson, John — 438 
Wilson, Nathaniel — 415 
Wilson, M. A. — 98 
Wilthorne, Francis — 220 
Winslow, Rev. E. D. — 478 
Winslow, Hon. Samuel E. — 155- 

156 
Withington, William— 2 
Wood. A. B. — 223 
Wood, Robert, Jr. — 551 
Wood, C. Robert, Jr. — 112 
Wood, Albion Royal — 293 



INDEX 



XXI 



Wood, Wm. W. — 471 

Wood, Elmer — 293 

Wood. George H. — 292-437 

Wood, Henrv S.— 292-293-416-437 

Wood, John — 292 

Wood. John — 291-2-91-93-200 

Wood, Nancy Lord — 292 

Wood, Rev. Plinv — 478 

Wood, John M. — 438 

Wood, Nelson G. — 444 

Woodbury, Benjamin — 199-15-22- 

53-86 
Woodbury, Benjamin — 200 
Woodbury, Dea. Benjamin — 203 
Woodbury, Benajah — 203-408-409 

411 
Woodburv, Capt. Daniel — 200-24- 

30-36-89-90-91 
Woodburv, Daniel Raymond — 201 
Woodbury, George — '201-37-48- 

454 
Woodbury, Mrs. George — 108-130- 

360-361 
Woodbury. George Edward — 202 
Woodbury, Col. Jacob — 355 
Woodbury, James — 200 
Woodbury, James Peter — 201 
Woodburv, John — 199 
Woodbury, Jonathan — 199 - 200- 

409-411-196 
Woodbury, Joshua — 199 



Woodbury, Joseph — 199 
Woodbury, Joseph — 200 
Woodbury, Leslie Hanks — 202- 

456 
Woodbury, Lot — 200-411 
Woodbury. Martha Almira — 202 
Woodburv. Capt. Peter — -199-200- 

401-407-408-409-464-461-411-15 
22-23-29-30-31-36-37-78-86-90 
Woodbury, Peter — 201 
Woodbury, Rev. Joseph — 478 
Woodbury, Peter 2d — 404-405-408 

-411 
Woodcock, Jeremiah — 464 
Woodcock & Sawyer — 247 
Woodward, Amos — 454 
Woodworth, Rev. Charles Louis — 

274 
WooUey, Lydia — 7 
Work, James — 22-411 
Work, Oliver — 29-30-78-106 
Wright, Henrv P. — 349 
Wright, Josiah — 92 
Wyman, Benjamin Franklin — 202 
Wyman, Seth — 249 
Wyman, Silas, Jr. — 444 



Young, Zachariah F. — 212 



THIS BOOK "WAS PRINTED AT 
THE PRESS OF THE ATHOL TRANSCRIPT 

ATHOL, MASS. 



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